The 100th Quarter Quell
by HannahAsphodelLumos
Summary: Tivra was just any other girl living a life in District 7, but when she's chose for the 100th Quarter Quell and partnered with a boy from District 3, her life will change forever. Will she win? Final chapter up! Rated T for violence. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

**The 100****th**** Quarter Quell **

[Katniss and Peeta never happened in this story, life continued on like normal]

**Chapter 1-Reaped**

Oh, how my life would change on this horrible, horrible day.

It was my seventeenth Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. What district was I in, you ask? 7. My whole life, I had been raised in this place. Really, my life wasn't as bad as many others. My family usually got a meager meal each night, even if it didn't fill us up as much as we would like. Every once and a while we'd even have enough food to give out to some kids.

My name was Tivra Lurain. I stood around 5.1 and had black hair and blue eyes. My dad said my hair looked like the night itself. My dad worked like anyone else in my district, with the lumber. He had been allowed to choose between doing wood work or working with the paper, but he had made the decision to work with wood. So had I.

Most of the other girls worked in the many shops we had. Though we can't usually afford anything out of them. I'd never been like that. My whole life I had only wanted to work with lumber. I had always been strong in the arms, so when I had become thirteen I had started going with my dad to the work area. At first, I had only carried the wood to the wagon, but by the time I was fifteen I was chopping wood just like anyone else.

My mom had tried to stop me at first, she didn't think that it was a lady like job. I had been forced to listen to her rant and rave from the time I was thirteen to the time I was fifteen. Yet, it stopped suddenly then, when a mass explosion in one of the buildings killed her, along with my sister, Mash. I'd been shocked and horrified.

My dad had went into the daze for a his whole life He didn't show emotions. He worked on automatic. He barely even noticed when my brother, Keeble, who was thirteen at the time, was called to go to the arena. I had screamed, tried to volunteer, but of course I couldn't volunteer to go in as the boy tribute. Even when I tried to volunteer for the girl tribute, someone else had volunteered for me. They wouldn't let me go. I'd never know why.

I forced myself not to go into a daze like my dad as I watched my brother fight. He had been working with axes for the last two years and gored a guy through the head once. I had cheered when I saw that, causing my dad to start.

Shockingly, against all odds, it came down to him and the girl tribute from district three. My brother was wounded, face a mess of blood from a gash on his forehead and he was losing blood quickly. It was horrible, when the girl from District two showed up, he managed to get up to his feet. He would have won to if it hadn't been for him not being able to kill her.

She gored him through the stomach with a spear.

He died in three minutes.

The girl won.

I would never forget her face. His face. Never, ever.

As the years passed, I never had to sign up for tessarea, which was lucky for me. My dad never really came out of his mental state, though he did enough to take care of himself when he came home. I didn't let myself get into any relationships with the guys at my school. I would wait until I was nineteen and didn't have to worry about losing him to the reaping.

Blinking into the morning sunlight, I prepared my self to the following day. The day of the reaping. This year was my second last reaping. I was pretty sure I was safe once again, since I wasn't in the drawing for the girls many time. Still, I had my fingers crossed.

I lugged myself to my feet, peeking outside to look out into the street. No one was outside, all the shutters pulled closed except for a few houses. Brown grass waved slowly in the breeze. Pulling away from the window, I pulled my own shutters closed, leaning against the wall weakly and after a moment my knee's gave way. Instead of sliding slowly to the ground. I went crashing down with a resounding bang. I closed my eyes, ignoring the throbbing pain in my tailbone, trying to keep myself from hyperventilating.

I seemed to lay their for hours, but after a while I dragged myself to my feet. I trudged across the room, yanking the door open with a resounding screech. I walked slowly down the hall, each step pain searingly slow. Every step lead me to the event today that I wish I could prolong for another year. No, not another year. Forever.

My dad was in the kitchen, his blond hair sparkling in the light spilling through the window. He had the same colored eyes as me. Dark blue, almost black. He turned, barely acknowledging me before setting two bowels of porridge onto the table. He sat down, eating slowly. I stared at the food, it had been a long time since my dad had cooked for me, but after a moment I shrugged and sat down, taking a bite of the dry grainy meal.

I only ate about half of the bowel before my food started coming back up. I turned, knocking the chair open to rush to the bathroom where I vomited into the makeshift toilet, little more then a hole in the ground. For many minutes I dry heaved, head spinning, but it was finally over. No, today would not be fun.

Leaning back, I took in the sounds of my dad cleaning up. No, he never came to check on me anymore. I rubbed my fingers, the creases caused my years of hard labor so familiar, so permanent. It was something that would never go away.

I stepped out of the bathroom, walking down to my room, where I pulled open the closet. I needed to find something to wear for the reaping. Pushing aside rack after rack of clothing, I became more and more annoyed. I was just about the fling the doors closed again when a glint of sparkly blue caught my eyes.

I'd never noticed it before, who knows why, but in the back of my closet sat a elegantly wrapped box. I reached inside, taking it out and running my fingers over the silk ribbon that must have cost a month of food. It was the writing on the note that caught my eye, though.

Dear Tivra.

You are my daughter. Nothing can change that. I wrapped this a month ago, but just now have put it in your closet. I hope you wear it someday.

You mother, Cash.  
September 4th.

I choked on my own saliva as I saw the date. The day before my mom had died. Oh my god! How did I never notice this.

I set it down on the bed, reaching forward to start pulling the ribbon, when a loud beeping began in the kitchen, obviously coming from the TV.

It was time to find out about the Quarter Quell.

It was the one hundredth Hunger Games, a Quarter Quell, meaning that their would be some new twist to the games. I had heard once that they had sent in twice as many tributes, where a boy from District twelve had came in. The Quarter Quells only became more and more gruesome each time.

I turned slowly, making my way back to the hall, before turning into the kitchen. My dad was sitting on the couch, watching the screen intently. I'd never seen him look so intense since the days before my mom died. He'd always been a very intense man. Many people said I'd obtained that from him. I wasn't sure if it was true, but who knew.

For a second, the only thing you could see on the old, dusty screen was static, until suddenly a grey and white picture appeared. President Snow, who was looking very old, was walking up the stage. His white hair glinted unnaturally on the black and grey screen. He reached a table, opened a small box, before pulling out a small, grey card. When he spoke, his voice was almost inaudible with are TV.

"For the one hundredth Quarter Quell, each tribute will be paired up with a tribute from another district,"

His voice had barely ended before the screen went black.

I blinked, staring at the screen in confusion. What was the big deal about that? They would have some pretty hard times keeping us together. My dad was leaning back on the couch, head dipped back and lolling against the cushions. His eyes stared open at the ceiling, only the rise and fall of his chest showing that he was still alive.

Turning my gaze away from my father, I stood up, remembering the box I had left on the bed. I rushed down the hall, sudden excitement rising up my throat. Reaching my room, I carefully pulled the silk ribbon apart, careful not to rip it. Who knows how much money this would sell for.

I wasn't so careful on the sparkly paper. It was just something my mom would pick out and I was already growing to detest it. After all the paper was removed, there was only a plain white box before me. It was a rectangle, stretching almost to the other side of my bed, which was made for one person. I carefully lifted it up and couldn't help the small gasp of shock that came from my throat.

Inside the box was probably the prettiest dress I'd ever seen. Reaching my hands in carefully, I took hold of the silky material carefully, as though it might rip. I pulled it out of the box, taking in the lush red color, the silky shine and the design. It was strapless, with slight creases around the top. Below the waste, it fell down in literal waves. It wasn't puffy, by thin and would probably fall just to the top of my ankles. It was obviously made for someone my age.

I would wear it to the Quarter Quell, of course.

I quickly undressed, slipping the dress over my shoulder. It caught for a moment, but I was able to pull it down without ripping the fine material. It fell over my body, light as a feather and sat so finely on my that I didn't even have to worry about the no straps. Turning towards the dusty old mirror in the corner of the room, I took in my body. It gave me curves I'd never even knew I'd had. Gave me an elegance that shocked even me.

I turned back to the box, reaching in to find that there was still a pare of matching high heel shoes. I slipped my feet into them, breathing a sigh of relief that they still fit me. My feet were pretty small, shockingly.

A smaller box sat inside and I soon found that it contained makeup. I rushed to the bathroom, excited to apply it. I couldn't help feeling like it was Christmas, and for a moment I forgot about the Quarter Quell. The danger I was in.

My mom had taught me how to apply makeup before she had died. I applied light mascara and a bit of pink eye shadow, plus dark red lip stick that shockingly made my mouth look extremely nice. After a moment, I dug out my hair equipment, getting to work on that.

Before long, my hair fell over my shoulders in twirls, the black absolutely shining. I'd had a shower the night before so I hadn't had to worry about that, luckily. I turned towards another larger, cleaner mirror, taking in my appearance slowly, before a clock on the wall reminded me that I needed to make my way out to the reaping.

I paused as my hand touched the door knob, before I opened it up and stepped outside, wobbly on the high heels that added a few extra inches to my height. I walked down the hall quickly, anxiety falling over me only again like a dark cloud. My dad wasn't in the kitchen anymore, probably already in the crowd for the Reaping. He always came now, even though he didn't seem to have a reason to.

It shocked me when his voice stopped me in my tracked, the front door open in front of me, "You look... beautiful,"

My father hadn't talked in four years, other then murmurs and grunts.

I turned my head to look at him, taking in the alertness in his eyes, the way his slump had been replaced by the amazing posture he'd had years before. I stared at him in shock, fighting down rising anger that shocked me even more. How could he be coming to now? Why not years ago?

I muttered a 'thank you', unable to say more with out unleashing the anger that was coiled up inside me, before I swept out the door. People were leaving their houses, mostly the kids that would be reaped. Most of the guys looked at me in shock. I wasn't usually noticed. I was the quite kid with spunk. The tough girl that you barely noticed.

I picked up the pace, suddenly wishing that I had at least one friend to face the day with. But not, there was no one else.

The Reaping happened in front of an old, rusted down fountain we had. It was so moss covered that you could barely tell what it was anymore, but I'd been told that it used to be are first winner of the games, a women that had found a great use in the animals in the arena.

The clearing was already filled up with people. Peace Keepers were directing the tributes towards the place the would stand. I was ushered in the seventeen year olds crowd, right behind the eighteen year olds. We had a big district, but we were almost always able to fit everyone in.

Many of the people gave me fleeting glances before returning to staring at the ground. My knee's were shaking hard now, my hands clenched into fists at my side. I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate, a reaction I had just about every time. I took note of my father arrive, walking with a new confidence before disappearing into the crowd. For a moment I glared after him, before looking at my feet.

There was a sudden commotion up front and I looked up to see are Mayor walk onto stage. He was a chunky, cruel man that really didn't care about us. He stood in front of a stand, while the women who called out the names of the Tributes, Vase Gewel walked onto the staged, fell by the mentor of this year, a man named Gregor Maccartigan. He was around thirty five and had won when he was eighteen.

The mayor introduces Vase, who skips up to the podium and trills out in her high pitched voice, "I hope you all are very excited and have the best of luck!" Before she bobbed over to the two large dishes, which contain thousands of names. Vase takes a stand behind the females dish. Grinning, she calls out cheerfully, "Ladies first!"

She digs around the dish for a while, obviously unable to grab a onto a paper that she feels right. I can feel the tension in my shoulders that had been replaced for a few moments creeping back in, my teeth gritting together in anticipation. Why will it be? Who will I watch die this time?

Then, in a clear, calm voice, she calls out the name.

Tivra Lurain.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer-

I forgot to put this first :P

I do not own the Hunger Games and any mention of the characters from The Hunger Games fully belong to Suzanne Collins. I do not own any of the words I may have taken from her book and do not own the idea.

Unothewarrio


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2-Horror

I don't know what I expected. From that moment on, my mind was chaos. It was me! Of the thousands in that dish, my name, on that little slip of paper, had been pulled out. How horrible... who will take care of my dad? I will never finish my education. I will die in the arena, that I am sure of.

My legs are unable to move. My eyes flickering back and forth in what can only be described as panic. This is horrible and I need escape. Yet running would only end up in me getting beaten. Finally, taking a deep breath and a shove from a girl behind me, I step forward, my body suddenly back into mobile.

I reached the stage quickly, climbing the large, wooden steps that I'm surprised are still standing. My legs have surprisingly stopped shaking, replaced by a posture my mom had forced into me all those years ago. It suddenly seems like a millennium. After on the stage, I turn to face the crowd, taking in the many, solemn faces. Would someone volunteer for me? Take my place? Or had the need to keep me alive, so young and precious back then, dissipated?

Vase calls out for volunteers yet there is no one.

I feel tears rising up, my eyes watering. I force them back though. I can not show weakness. I must be strong. Without strength I will be nothing. I will be marked as a weakling and picked off at the first.

After a moment, Vase stopped calling for volunteers. I clench my fingers around the red silk covering my body, suddenly detesting the color. It is the exact same color as the blood we see so much in the arena.

The boy is called, some guy named Viclin Moses. He is small, shaky and fifteen years old by the looks of him and I instantly know I will not like him. I will not team up with him. He will only drag me down. I regret thinking these though, I should feel sorry for him, but I am unable to in this time of horror. I am to busy drowning in my own sorrow.

He get on the stage and there are no volunteers. I glance at him from my peripheral vision, taking in the tears streaming down his cheeks, the snot running down his nose. The little idiot was pretty much making himself a target! I gritted my teeth, trying to calm myself. He was only a young boy.

We shake hands. His are sweaty, clammy and surprisingly cold. He pulls away quickly and we are ushered away. I am sent into the building where we will get are last moments with the people we care about. I can't help wondering if my dad will even show up, or if he's fallen into yet another coma like shape.

Inside the building, I sit down in a beige, soft couch, crossing my ankles as I watched the door for any visitors, but none come.

Ooh, I'm so surprised.

The hour pass's and still no one shows up. The Peace Keepers arrive, faces hard and unemotional, to usher me out of the room. Rush, rush, rush. That seems to be all there is to this new course change in my life. I force myself to go along with it until I'm waiting for the train. I held my head high, trying to ignore the sniveling kid a few feet away from me. I needed to look like I was ready to kill.

I don't think I ever would be.

The train arrived and we all bored. I ignored Vase's compliments on my outfit and made a quick escape to my room. Inside, I rushed to the bathroom, ripping the cursed fabric from my body and chucking it to the floor. I stared at it in anger, before turning to the sink and wiping viciously at my face, but after a moment I just stepped into the shower, which ended up with me jumping up and down in the rushes of hot and cold, soap and shampoo and much more.

I stepped out of the shower, rubbing myself dry and shivering in my near nakedness, before I pulled out some comfortable jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Slipping them on, I stepped out of the bathroom, just as Vase knocked hard on the door, screeching her bushy head off that it was time for supper.

At supper, I listened to no one, not even Gregor, who was already prepping us for the game. I managed to choke down a few spoonfuls of soup before I escaped to another room, sitting down on the couch in front of a larger then life TV.

Sadly, I couldn't escape the others for long before the came inside, Vase sitting on one side of me and Viclin sitting on my other side. Gregor doesn't show up. Not that I really care. Vase switches on the TV, obviously wanting to see the other reapings, the other people that would be going into the games to fight against us.

They start with District 1, where a large, bulky boy volunteers, named Reggie Vish. The girl is tall and muscular for a female. Her name, Ruby Lemishe. I instantly knew that I'm gonna have trouble with both of them.

District two has two siblings. A female named Wendles Flash and a male named Bug Flash. Their both small, nimble and don't seem to have any muscle on them. Yet you can tell that their going to be careers just from the look in their eyes. The dark glint their.

District three has more normal looking people, with a female named Casanola Rosha and a male named Quill Shomba. The girl is small, looking to be thirteen when she's really sixteen and has a shocking head of red hair. The boy is tall, with flat muscles and a mass of blond hair, so white its almost looks like snow. He could remind me of President Snow, but really, he doesn't.

Before they can show District four, I leave, not bothering to watch the rest. I don't want to have nightmares about killing these people.

I collapse onto the bed, the darkening sky outside seeming to almost be an omen. Sleep seems to be on my side though, and I fall into a slumber so deep I have no dreams. More importantly, no nightmares.

------------------

The next morning, I made my decision.

Really, I had been a bit unfair to the people I would probably spend the last few minutes of my life with. Gregor is just trying to keep me alive, even though I'd never really liked him. He's sarcastic, rude and a bit of a snob. Still, I'd be listening today. I should also be nicer to the young boy I'd be working with, though I wasn't going to cut him any breaks in the arena.

I couldn't afford that.

I sat there for a while, just staring at the ceiling until finally Vase came clanking down the hall, probably wearing a pair of outrageously high heels. She knocked on my door, trilling out that it was breakfast time. Yet, even as she walked away I couldn't help hear her mutter 'If you're going to be social'.

Not to her, that's for sure.

I slowly got out of bed, noting that I was still in the clothing from yesterday before smoothing them out with my hands, they'd look fine for today. Yesterday seemed like a blur and after a moment I closed my eyes, regulating my breathing until my heart had stopped beating against my chest. I stumbled my way into the bathroom, splashing water onto my face until my head felt clear.

I paused, prolonging the moment, dreading leaving the false comfort of my room. After a moment, I turned and walked out the bathroom door, looking around the room. My mom had used to say I was a natural at stalling. Finally, I sighed, might as well get it over with, Tivra.

I yanked the door open, used to the to big door at my old home that would never open if you didn't pretty much throw your whole weight against it. I stumbled out, running into the outside wall before falling backwards onto my butt with a huff. Smooth, Tivra, real smooth.

I glance down the hall, checking to see if anyone had seen my little fall. Some people may take it as a show of weakness. After I was sure that no one had seen me, I turned and walked towards the dining room, the train lurching beneath my feet. I was barely able to stay upright, but after a few minutes I became more used to it.

Inside the dining room, Gregor, Vase and Viclin are all seated. Viclin's eyes were red and puffy but he had stopped crying. Gregor looked deep in though, chewing a pencil tip, a bowel of porridge left untouched in front of him. Vase was shoveling down some sugary looking cereal. They didn't look up as I walked in.

A buffet sat beside on side, but I only took a piece of toast, slathered in jam and peanut butter. I made of show of scraping my chair across the blindingly white floor, but no one looks up, though Viclin flinches. I sit down, setting my plate and toast on the table. My eyes look at all there faces, the servers from the capital just flickers on the sides of my vision.

After a moment, I turn to Gregor, "So, whats the plan?"

He slowly looks up, dark eyes glinting in annoyance, "You sure you want to hear it?" When I nod, he continues, "The plan is for you to listen to me!" His pen slams down point first into the wood, digging deep inside with such a force that it stays upright when he lets go.

I stared at him for a second, fighting down the rising temper in side of me and keeping up my calm composure, though my words did come out a bit harsh, "I terrible sorry for ignoring you after learning that I was going to die,"

We stare each other out, his mouth turned downward into a frown, my face a closed book. It lasted for a few minutes, the others eyes boring into either side of my head. Then he chuckles, before laughing out loud. The sound was so loud that it made me jump, "You got spunk, I can see that. Now stop thinking with sorrow and start thinking with optimism. It is my job to keep you alive and with you moping around, it won't be very easy,"

I stared at him angrily for a second, before ducking my head and taking a bite of my toast. I couldn't identify the flavor of the jam, but it was great with the peanut butter. For a moment, silence continues, but finally Gregor speaks up, "So, weakness's. Strengths. Cough them up,"

I paused, waiting for Viclin to speak. He faltered as he looked up, taking in my inviting expression, then sighed, "I've got nothing," He sighed, returning to picking at his food. Gregor stared at him for a second, taking in the young boys unresponsive expression before shrugging, "Your death,"

I moved faster then I thought was possible for me. One minute I was sitting in my chair, then I was standing over Gregor, who was on the ground, hand over a nose that was gushing blood. My fist ached but I just glared down at him, "I thought you were trying to keep us alive,"

He was on his feet in a second, screaming at me. I only stared at him, waiting impatiently for him to calm down. When he did, he huffed once, sitting down in his chair and ordering an ice pack. His voice sounded stuffed when he spoke and the blood around his face made me want to vomit, "Well, I see we known one of your strengths... but what else is there?"

I shrugged, really not knowing, but Viclin spoke up. I noticed that he was staring at me in shock, "Don't take her seriously. She underestimates herself. I've seen her from a distance have ax throwing rounds with the other boys when the Peacekeepers aren't looking. She never misses,"

Gregor turned back towards me, spitting blood from his mouth. Vase probably would have been horrified if she hadn't been intently looking over a piece of paper in her hands, "Axes, eh? Okay then, when training, you are not to go anywhere near the axes. Save that for the Gamemakers. It would probably be better if you worked altogether out in defense. That's of course, if your partner is okay with that,"

Vase suddenly looked up, smiling brightly, "Your partners are on this sheet! I'm so excited for this years Hunger Games!" She squealed loudly, before reading out the Viclins partner, "Viclin, you will be partnered with the girl from District 1! Ruby!" She clapped her hands together, but Viclins face fell and I knew that we were both thinking about the larger, muscular women. Viclin would be dead before the first fight!

Before I could say anything to Vase, she was turning to me, her smile widening, "And you, Tivra, will be paired with the boy from District 3, Quill!

I recalled the boy, with his golden looks, slightly muscular body and tall build. Partnered with him?

Gregor laughed, the sound pulling me back to attention, "Well, I guess neither of you will have even a chance at working on your defense's. The first three districts will obviously be working on their offense. Don't fight with them. They will make allies later on,"

I stared at him for a moment, but a sudden announcement cut off the words that were about the leave my mouth, "We are approaching the Capitol," We all sat quietly there for a moment, then I took a deep breath and stood up, "Well, I'm out of here,"

Turning, I made my way out of the room, heading to my room so I could lie down and try to calm my pounding head.


	4. Chapter 4

I was lying on my bed in the train when stylist's suddenly exploded in. They were laughing, falling over each other, talking about how 'this years hunger games were gonna be fluorescent!'. A mans voice hushed them and I could hear them flitting towards me. One of them trilled my name, "Tivra!" She held the 'a', giggling afterwards!

I sighed, wishing I didn't have to go through this, before pushing myself up onto and elbow and turning to face them. Three outrageously dressed people stood there. Two females and a male. The male was coloured a bright pink, with neon yellow hair and purple make up. The two girls were dressed exactly the same, with spiked out green hair, huge eyes surrounded by layer after layer of eyeshadow, plus a whole lot of green lipstick. For a few moments, I could only stare.

The two girls lung forward, gripping my wrists and yanking me to my feet, I almost fall, but they are already going over me, screeching things like 'its so awesome to finally meet you!' and 'Look at her hair' and 'Oh my god! Her hands are absolutely hideous' That one hurt a little bit, since my hands were my prized possessions.

I learned that the two girls were named Mikapla and Tiplaka and the guy was named Flur. They soon ordered me to undress and I couldn't help pausing, but when all three of them started screeching at me, I pretty much ripped the clothing from my body.

They managed to transport me into the bathroom without even slowing their transformation over my body. Mikapla started to run a bath, squirted substances into the already bubbly water that made the room smell like the ocean.

Flur spins me around, grabbing my face in his hands and massaging my cheeks, moving the skin on my cheeks up and down, "Well, at least her skin is nice and clean, not a blemish on it. Your one of the luckier ones that we've had!" He chuckles, before turning and grabbing a pair of tweezers.

Before I can protest, he turns back around and grips my chin. His hand disappears from view and suddenly there's pricks of pain after pricks. I start to reach up to grip his hand, but both my hands are grabbed by Tiplaka and Mikapla, who have finished with the back. They force me to straighten up, Flur still plucking away at my eyebrows, forehead creased in concentration.

They manage to maneuver me into the bath and suddenly I'm up to my neck in thick, syrupy, blue and green coloured bubbles and water. I gag as the smell reaches my nose, twice as strong now that I'm in contact with it. Mikapla grabbed a hand and begins to file away at finger nails. I grit my teeth as the sandy side brushes the skin on my fingers, the feeling almost unbearable.

Tiplaka begins to scrub at my body, which is extremely uncomfortable and embarrassing. She giggles, "You're going to love your costume this year! Flavash has an amazing idea picked out!"

I tried to smile, but the pain around my eyebrows turned it into a grimace. The three capitol people began talking, going on about their lives, in my opinion sucked. I kept contemplating what my costume would be. A couple of years back they'd dressed up the tributes as logs with axes stuck in their head. Those tributes got no sponsors.

Finally Flur is done and he pulls back, setting the tweezers down on the counter, beside the sink. He turns back toward me and without the slightest warning, he grabs my head and dunks me under that water.

I come up sputtering, spitting out fowl tasting bubbles. My eyes are streaming with tears from the pain. Suddenly Flur is pouring something into my hair, before his nails dig into my scalp, scrubbing mercilessly. I gasp in pain, flinching, but manage to not yank my hand away from Mikapla.

Finally Tiplaka reaches into the water, yanking the plug. The water begins to recede and I lug myself to my feet. They pretty much pick me up and set me out on top of a towel. They scrub me dry before Flur starts streaking my hair with something. I jerk away, but he sighed and laughs, yanking my head back into place and continuing to streak my hair.

Tiplaka and Mikapla are applying something to my legs and I didn't realize what they were doing until they applied a paper like material to my legs. I started to protest, but they both, at the very same time, ripped the paper off.

You could probably hear my scream from the arena I was going to.

They didn't stop waxing until they were sure they had every piece of hair good and gone and even then they went over my body with tweezers, looking for any stray pieces of hair. By now, Flur had dried my hair and curled it. From what I could tell, a bunch of it when up into a bun on the back of my head, which was already starting to throb while twirling tendrils fell around my face. From the corner of my eyes, I could see that he had somehow dyed these strips a shocking colour of blue.

Flur moved to my face, applying eyeliner roughly, before layering on a bunch of eyeshadow. He used an eyeliner stick to trace designs over my face, though I couldn't see them. He applied my lips with a bunch of lip stick, before taking the lobes of my ears in his fingers. I had no piercings, which obviously displeased him.

My screams picked up a notch when he punched holes through them.

Flur applied some medicine that eased the pain and healed he holes right away, leaving a place to put earrings. He slid in a pair of earrings, smiling as he stepped back to take in his progress, "You look absolutely gorgeous!" he gushed.

Tiplaka and Mikapla both took out blue eyeliner sticks, tracing wave designs over my arms. I was shocked when the eyeliner began to glow, making my arms look shocking. I paused, feeling uncomfortable speaking with all the lipstick, but finally I managed, "How does this have anything to do with my district?"

Flur laughed, "Flavish will explain when he comes!"

It seemed to take forever, but finally they were done. Then stepped back, taking in their progress before nodding. They all jump up, clapping their hands together and spinning in circles, screeching like three year olds. I stared at them, but suddenly a door opened, followed by a thickly accented capitol voice, "I'm here! Are you done?"

The three children-grownups all screamed yes in chorus's, grabbing my hands to drag me out. A man stood out there. His hair was black and fell to his shoulders, his eyes shrouded in dark shadows. He was dressed in black and I admit that he scared me a little.

He smiled though, and it did improve his appearance, "You made her look perfect! Now lets get her into her dress!" He pointed at me, looking very stern, "Close your eyes,"

I obeyed and heard the sound of a zipper as he opened a package. Suddenly, my arms were being lifted above my head and fabric was falling over my body. It seemed rather heavy, but soon I became used to it. Flavish put a necklace around my neck and I almost giggled as I realized it was heavier then the dress.

The managed to maneuver me into a pair of high heels and finally I was left to stand on my own. For a moment there was silence, then the three stylists were squealing. Flavish only chuckled. There was a loud screech as they moved something and finally Flavish said, "You can look now,"

I opened my eyes to a stranger.

I could literally have been noted as the goddess of sea. My dress fell to my knee's, sending out a soft, radiant glow. Every time a shifted, it rippled like a wave was passing over it. The neckline was decorated with jewels of every shade of blue and the one around my neck matched my hair completely. The stone was cut so when you looked at it, you felt you could get lost in its depths. The dress had no puffiness, only sleek, silk like material.

My high heels were the same shade as my dress and the straps were actually made to look like tidal waves. My legs shined from the recent waxing, but all along them were drawings of waves, glowing lightly. My arms were the same, as was my neck. My hair was pulled back into the bun I suspected, but to my relief most of my hair was still black, except for those tendrils falling around my face in twists, which were the same color as the necklace. The earring's were the same as the necklaces, but not as heavy.

Finally I focused on my face. Shock radiated through my. My eyes were surrounded by black eyeliner, plus blue eyeshadow. The same designs that were on my body were on my face. The waves seemed to leave my eyes, like tears and curled around my eyes, before reaching down to cup my lips, which were a shocking shade of blue. The glowing blue of the waves lit my face in a beautiful way.

It was only then that I realized that the first waves, the ones at my eyes, were connected to the rest. It was like I was one, endless wave.

I choked on my own throat, fighting back tears because that would be a disaster. Finally I managed to stutter, "T-thank you!" This would surely get me at least one sponsor!

Flavish smiled again, "It's my delight to help you,"

I stared at myself for a while, but suddenly a question popped into my head, "But... aren't we supposed to support are districts? My district has nothing to do with water..."

Flavish grinned, "Now, you've obviously heard about you being partnered with someone from another District. Well, in the opening ceremony, all the tributes will be riding with their partners. I decided to dress you up as Quill's district. He is dressed up as yours. My partner, Gemma, is working on him right now,"

I nodded, feeling a slight twinge of worry that I would have to ride with Quill. I stood there for another few moments, marveling my transformation, then I finally spoke up, "Well... what now?"

Flavish clapped his hands together, "Now we head out to the chariots!"

I was ushered out of my room and snuck out into a vehicle. We made are way deep into the Capitol and it wasn't soon till I was stepping out of the vehicle. Chariot after Chariot were lined up. I looked around, taking in the different tributes. They were all dressed amazingly... well, except for District 11, which were dressed up like flowers. I stared at them for a minute, then looked down.

I couldn't ignore the stares I was getting. Every district seemed to be glaring at me. I ducked my head, following Flavish to the chariot I would be riding. It was third last and I quickly climbed in, wondering where Quill and Gemma were. Suddenly, Flavish stepped up beside me, placing a crown on my head.

He turned his head to look at me, "Now, about halfway through your ride, somethings gonna happen with this crown. If you freak out, I will personally shoot you in the arena,"

I nodded and he stepped back, walking away. Another vehicle pulled up. I turned to look out at it as a women stepped out. Flavish greeted her, smiling hugely yet I was unable to hear their conversation. Then out stepped Quill.

I almost fell off the chariot. Somehow, Gemma had managed to turn my districts specialty into something beautiful. Quill was dressed in light brown pant, and a plain black t-shirt. Yet his arms were decorated like my, only with what could be twigs and vines. His lips are a shade of light red, like some trees you found around my district. His face is decorated with the same patterns and he has on a pair of knee high boots, his pants tucked into them. It takes me a moment to realize that the clasps on the boots are made of wood.

Yet his hair is shocking. Streaked with black, Gemma has actually twisted it through it actual twigs. He has already received his crown, which is brown instead of blue like mine. He's wearing a necklace much like mine, except the stone is brown.

I stare at him, as does many other people, but Gemma points him towards are chariot. His nods, turning towards me and I make my gaze neutral, like I'm waiting for him to hurry up and get over here. He seems staggered at my appearance, taking in the glowing blue halo all around me.

Of course, he's glowing a burgundy color.

He approaches and after a moment his gaze becomes awkward, so I turn to look straight ahead, watching as the other tributes board their chariot. There's Viclin, dressed up in leaves, which a crown of gems around his forehead. Ruby's decorated in jewels, which a vine crown on her head.

Their very interesting looking, I must admit to that.

A sudden shift of weight on the chariot alerted me to Quill. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, taking note that as he shifted in his seat he kept shooting glances at me from the corner of his eyes. I turned my head away, smirking slightly.

I waited impatiently for the opening ceremony to begin, so I could get away from Quill, but he spoke up after a bit, much to my annoyance, "So, you decided to look pretty tonight, eh?"

I turned my head to look at him, smirk turning into a smile, "and you were trying to look ugly tonight, eh?"

He laughed, "Very funny, but seriously, your costume is absolutely stunning,"

I raised an eyebrow, "Costume? This is what I look like everyday!" He snickered a bit, "I'll admit it though, you look okay yourself,"

He shrugged, "I do my best," He adjusted the crown slightly, "So, what do you think the crowns going to do?"

I shrugged, "Blow are heads off?"

He started to laugh, but suddenly trumpets were blowing. Light spilled in as large doors opened up and the first chariot rolled out, which donned Viclin and Ruby. Screaming started outside, along with yells of names. I shifted so I was facing forward, as did Quill, all signs of the former friendliness gone as he became serious. We moved forward slowly as each chariot moved through.

Suddenly Gemma and Flavish were waving frantically at us. I look at them, squinting. Flavish put his arm around Gemma. Quill got the message before me and suddenly his arm was against me, pulling me against him. I jumped, but realized this is what the stylists were. If I could take a body wax I could take this.

Still, I wasn't sure if I liked going into the capitol with Quill appearing to be an ally, even if he was my partner. I didn't get much more time to think about this though, because suddenly we were moving into the light.


	5. Chapter 5

At first, the capitol barely noticed us. They were to busy taking in the other ones, then someone noticed us. I heard my name screamed once, then suddenly chaos erupted. People were screaming me and Quill's names, reaching over the ribbons separated us trying to get to us. I managed to smile, waving my hand high in the air.

I began to blow kisses and the people went ballistic, grabbing at them. I'd seen this happen once or twice before, but I'd never expected it to be us, like me, blowing kisses? Really? Out of stress and slight fear I was leaning hard against Quill, and his hand was gripping my shoulder with enough force to bruise.

Some people from the chariots ahead were glancing back at us, taking in are appearance and obvious popularity. We got glares, we got astonishment, but mostly we got love. Yes, we would surely have sponsors after this. How could we not?

Suddenly the screams increased until it was an almost deafening volume. I winced, but a suddenly breeze like feeling fell over my shoulders. I paused, looking at my shoulders only to see water pouring over me. I stared at it and suddenly I understood the crowns. There were vines reaching down from Quills and he was carefully keeping his composure.

I wasn't even getting wet.

We went around the in the chariot quite a few times, but finally we started to move towards the end. Even President Snow, who was somehow still alive, stared at me and Quill in shock. He was trying to speak over the crowd, but wasn't doing very well. We were just about to reach the doors and leave the opening ceremony.

The capitol people were screaming at me to come back, to not leave. Like I really had a choice.

I really wasn't prepared for what came next. It would probably ruin the almost good relationship me and Quill had been growing. I don't even know if he did it for the crowd.

He suddenly reached around and grabbed the back of my head, twisting my head around and taking my cheek with his other hand. I didn't have much experience when it came to romantic stuff, so I didn't know what was coming until it was to late. He brought his face to me, his lips claiming mine. My first kiss.

I was completely caught of guard. That was my excuse to why I kissed him back. Well, I did. My own hands reached up to touch his cheeks lightly. It didn't go anywhere more then a kiss, yet suddenly the crowd when ballistic. Their screams would still echo through my head for the next many, many weeks. Quill wrapped his arm around my waist, making a show of dipping me back. The crowds cheers grew just as we entered the darkness of the building before us.

He let the kiss linger for a few moments, then he pulled back, golden brown eyes looking down at me. I stared up at him for a second, breath coming much to fast to be healthy. I tried to comprehend what had just happened, why Quill was lying half on top of me. Suddenly it all clicked together, and I let out a small scream of anger. I heaved Quill away and he actually flew from the carriage.

I started to lunge towards him, fingers poised like claws, but someone grabbed my forearms, yanking me back. I twisted and someone else grabbed my hands, holding them behind me. I would learn later on that it was Gregor and Viclin that had grabbed me.

They dragged me away, even though I was struggling like my life depended on it to get to Quill. People stared, some snickering, but soon I was shoved into a vehicle. My crown had long since turned off. I curled up on the seat, waiting impatiently for us to get where ever we were going.

We drove to the training center, the two guys beside me sitting silent as we waited. Finally we were there. For a moment, Gregor and Viclin reached towards me, as if they felt they should still pull me along, but I slapped their hands away and flung open my door, stepping out myself.

I strode over to the building, going into the elevator and closing it before the other two could catch up to her. My finger slammed down hard on the 12 button and I lurched upwards, almost causing me to fall. I caught my balance on the railing that was all around the elevator.

The ride seemed unbearably long. Usually, when I was riding in high tech devices like this, I would get giddy, excited. This wasn't something I got to do everyday. But right now, all I could think about was the anger I was feeling towards Quill. Partner or not, one of my axes were going to be cleaving his head open in the arena.

The elevator stopped and I stepped out, strutting down the hall until I found a door labeled Tivra. I quickly stepped inside, glanced around the erratically fashioned white room, before moving to the bathroom and locking myself in.

Then I proceeded to scrub my lips with a facecloth for the next five minutes.

Afterwards, all around my face was smudged with blue and it wasn't until now that I realized I was crying. Sobs broke through the defenses I'd built and slowly I crumpled to the ground, curling into the fetal position. My dress crinkled up around my body and there was a loud rip. I sobbed for what felt like hours.

It was the first time that I really thought about what I was losing. I had had a whole life stretched out in front of me before the reaping, but suddenly it was gone. Just like that. My father would have to watch me die. I would never marry. Never have kids. It even hurt a little to think that I'd never get to watch another hunger games, since that was a sign of my life.

We all knew I was going to die.

I couldn't help hoping Quill died first.

After a while, I began to gain control of myself. Sniffling and snotty, I forced my legs to work. I rose to my feet, turning to look in the mirror. I had to admit that I looked hideous now, my hair a mess, makeup all over my face. My eyes were red like apples.

I paused, then stripped out of my dress, the freedom from the weight a relief. I took off the jewelery, slipping out of my high heels before turning the shower on by pressing a little on button. I paused, before stepping under the steady stream of water. It beat on my skin and I hunched over.

After a moment I pressed a random button and all of a sudden I was being slathered in pineapple smelling soap. I choked as it ran around my face, but managed to start scrubbing at the waves on my body. It took a while to get rid of them all, but finally I felt water free, well, except for the stuff pounding on my back.

I finally turned the shower off, stepping out and drying myself down. Sadly, when I looked in the mirror I took note that the blue streaks hadn't washed away. They would be a reminder of this day until they did wash out. I pulled my hair up into a pony-tail, before slipping into a pair of sweats and a plain white t-shirt. A pair of sneakers were waiting conveniently for me and I slipped into them. They were a relief from the high heels.

I slipped out of the bathroom, sitting down on my bed and setting my head between my hands. It wasn't long until Vase came quietly knocking on my door, announcing that they were about to show the replaces of the opening ceremony. I paused, wondering if I wanted to see this, then nodded my head. I wanted to see the others costumes close up.

I stood up, feeling kind of wobbly, before opening my door and stepping into the hall. This time I was a little more gentler when pushing the panel of wood away from me. I turned and walked down the hall, hoping I was going the right way, but after a moment I arrived in a small dining room. A couch sat to one side, in front of a TV. Gregor and Vase were already there.

They cast me quick glances as I sat down beside Gregor, crossing my legs to try and keep composure. Then the TV blared to life. The trumpets started up and then the first carriage was rolling out. Ruby was flourishing in the spotlight, while Viclin looked like he could vomit. The crowd went crazy at the sight of the first carriage and their outfits.

Each new carriage brought on a new wave of cheers. There were animated costumes, glowing costumes, costumes that made no sense. The eight carriage came rolling out, stunning colours blinding me for a minute. How did that have anything to do with their district? Yet my carriage was coming up next.

I braced myself on the inside, and then we were rolling out. My appearance shocked me all over again. I looked so exotic, so beautiful. It made my breath catch just a little bit. Plus, with me beside Quill, an already very beautiful figure, it was like lighting me up for the world to see. There was that first cry as the crowd spotted us, then the cheers erupted. I watched myself, trying to regulate my breathing.

When are crowns came to life, it was like someone had switched the on button. It really looked like water was pouring over my, and Quill was quickly becoming wrapped in vines. The cheers turned to screams.

Yet, we were nearing the end of the ceremony and I knew what was coming now. The screams for me to come back were just beginning. I braced myself and watch as Quill grabbed the back of my head, twisting me around and taking my cheek in his hand. My hand dug deep into the couch, leaving indentations.

His lips touched mine and I kissed him back. I could still feel his lips on mine, tingling there, a warmth that I couldn't obtain any other way. Viclin ducted his head, I wasn't sure if it was out of respect or not.

He dipped me back, the screams increased, then I was gone.

I lunged to my feet, unable to watch anymore and raced to my room, ignoring the buffet that was laid out for after the replaying of the ceremony. Inside my room, I day down on my bed, yanking the covers over my chilled body. I didn't bother changing into something more suitable for going to sleep. Instead, I grabbed the second pillow and set it over my head, trying to drown out the day.

It didn't help that I knew that tomorrow I'd have to train with him.

I felt like crying again, but I held it in. I had to stop breaking down like this, before I ended up being taped, then it would show on the TV and I would be marked as a weakling. If that happened, I was as good as dead.

My mind began to turn towards the arena. What would it be like? Would it be forest? Water? Stone? If they threw us out into the middle of the ocean.... well, I couldn't swim, so I guess I was lost there. I could only hope it was in a forest like area, where I would feel the most comfortable.

I turned over, twisted the blankets around me uncomfortably and squeezed my eyes shut. Yet sleep evaded me this night. I was left to ponder, to wonder and to hate.

Finally, I rose to my feet. The sky was darkening outside and already the light of the city were bedazzling. Its funny, because if someone asked me to choose between living in the capitol or living in District 7, I'm sure I would choose 7.

I crept over to my door and opened it up. A servant rushed by, head down, but I barely noticed her. I listened for the sounds of sleep and sure enough, I soon began to make out Gregor's snores. Pausing once more, I turned to the left and went the way I never had before.

I came to a set of stairs. Look up them, all I was able to see was darkness, but in the end curiosity won me over and I quickly made my way up the stairs, two steps at a time. The darkness brought a paranoid feeling that I didn't like. I soon found myself facing a door and I could hear wind whistling from behind it. This door turned out to be more like my own at home and I was forced to throw my whole weight against it before it burst open.

I stumbled and fell to my knee's, but quickly scrambled back to my feet, dusting my pants off. I looked around. I was on a rooftop, the wind whipping my hair around my face. After a moment, I began to walk to the edge of the cement flat and I soon reached the ledge keeping us from jumping off. Well, it couldn't step me if I want to, but when I reached a hand out, it was shot right back, along with a flash of pain. Force field.

I paused, before looking down at the streets. People were screaming, yelling names and parading down the streets. Colours flashed all over the place. My name came up more then many of the others, as did Quills. On large buildings, screens seemed to be hooked on and my chariot flashed across it, along with me and Quill, waving and grinning.

I rubbed a thumb against one calloused palm, closing my eyes as memories of the day flashed behind my lids. These people, the ones parading down below me, loved us. Not because they were are friends, but because they wanted to watch us die. I wondered if they even knew we were dead, or if they all thought it was some big show and we were stored in some secret place in the capitol. What about their children? Did they really want them watching that?

I grimaced, thinking of what was going through the minds of the kids of the capitol. It must be horrible.

I turned, suddenly chilled, only to see him. He stood there, hands in his pockets, eyes narrowed against the chill. His voice reached me over the whistling and cheering down below, "We're in the same building. Like any other partners,"

I stared at him, trying to calm the shuddering rushing through my arms, my legs. I could still feel his lips on mine. It felt like I'd lost a piece of my, a puzzle piece, that now belonged to him and it wasn't his to keep.

I approached him slowly, my face bleak and dark. Soon I was only about a foot in front of him. I stared at him, then for the second time in two days, I punched someone.

He was on the ground, holding the side of his head, when I left the rooftop.

I locked myself in my room, wondering if my actions would have consequences. I was sure that it was on video somewhere. There were camera's everywhere in the capitol, I'd come to that realization.

I closed my eyes once more, took a deep breath and allowed myself to drift off into a restless sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning was rather bleak to me. I woke to early, just as it was starting to lighten outside. I took extra long taking a shower, before blow drying every separate strand of hair. Then I tied it back in a rough pony-tail that sat high up on my head. I took an extra long time picking out my clothing, before going with a comfy pair of a black cords and a jean jacket. I'd never seen a jean jacket in my life and I couldn't bare to not wear it.

I slipped into a pair of knee high leather brown boots, before stepping carefully out of the bathroom. By now, the light was high in the sky. I turned to look out the window. All of the capitol seemed to be asleep right now. After the parade last night, it wasn't that much of a wonder.

I slipped out my door and retreated down the hall to the dining area. I was the first one there, along with some of the servants, that I would later learn are called an Avox. I shoveled a mountain of food onto my plate and started to shovel it in, suddenly ravenous. I hadn't eaten last night. The food was like gold on my tongue. Even when Quill entered.

He stopped when he saw me already there, and even I paused. He had gotten lucky and the punch to the head hadn't left a bruise. I stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed in hatred. His mocked mine, but they weren't as harsh. After a moment, I returned to shoveling down the food, taking a finger full of bacon and shoving it into my mouth.

We didn't get to eat like this everyday and I had to admit I'd been shunning the other meals, which probably were just as delicious as this. Quill got his own meal and sat beside me. I made a show of screeching my chair across the ground as I moved away from him.

Gregor showed up after a bit, taking us in, the obvious tension between us. He smirked a little bit, starting to take things off the buffet and onto his plate, "Now, listen here, the partnering messed up the schedule a little bit, but you were both lucky enough to get me for a mentor, so you're both gonna listen to me from now on,"

I nodded, since I was already doing this. For a moment, Quill just glared at Gregor, but when Gregor turned his eyes on him, which were burning like two hot coals, Quill dipped his head in admission.

Gregor sat down in front of both of us, ignoring his food as he leaned forward, "Now, Tivra, you're going to have to forget what happened at the opening ceremony. It was reckless on Quills part," he turned to glare at Quill, "Though I do admit that I'm pretty sure you got yourselves some sponsors. I'm not asking you guys to act like friends when training, but at least appear as allies. In public, you to be friends, since I know that Tivra won't agree to the desperately in love idea. Tivra, make it look like you at least have a school-girl crush on him,"

I started to protest, but one look from Gregor shut me up. Quill looked rather annoyed as well, but Gregor was already speaking up again, "In the training arena, you're both to work on defense,"

Quill's hand went down on the table, hard, and his food toppled over, "No way! I'm learning to fight!"

Gregor turned to glare at him, "You're not going to get into the career pack with her as a partner, " He pointed at her, "So you might as well learn how to hide yourself in a patch of grass. You will listen to me and I will tell you when you can start learning how to use the weapons,"

Quill let out a sound that was very close to a growl, before flying to his feet and storming out of the room. I turned slightly to stare after him, one eyebrow raised, before turning back to Gregor, "I don't think I'm going to be able to keep him with me,"

Gregor smirked, "That's not going to be a problem, don't worry. The capitol is chaining you guys together in the training center. You'll only be able to go about four or five feet away from each other,"

I stared at him, mouth hanging open, but he turned around to yell after Quill, "Get back here boy! Its time to go!"

Quill showed up again in about two minutes and we departed. Half my food was left uneaten, but I didn't think I could swallow another bite. We stepped into an elevator, which lurched downward and to my embarrassment threw me into Quill, who caught me by the upper arms, chuckling. I wrenched away, turning away from him to face the light red walls.

Gregor laughed harder then he had since I'd met him at this and I went a shade of red. To my immense luck, we reached the training center then and the doors open. I quickly stepped out, but was stopped by a capitol guard. He stopped Quill to and when he snapped the chain to my foot and Quills foot, he stared at it in shock.

He looked at me, mouth open to freak out, but I spoke up before him, "Capitol rules, if you hadn't stormed out like that, you would have known about this,"

He turned to Gregor, but he was already gone. Mentors weren't allowed to stay for the training.

He grudgingly followed me towards the camouflage station, but about halfway there, the tributes from districts 1 and 2 stopped us. Viclin was there, along with the partners of the other districts. I smiled sympathetically at Viclin, before facing the two, large tribute in front of me, the boy and girl from district 1.

"Yes?" My words were steady and to me, my whole face felt dark.

Reggie looked me over, before whispering something to Ruby, who laughed, then spoke up, but not to me, "Come on, Quill, we're going to throw some spears,"

I expected myself to be dragged off towards the spear section by force, but Quill shook his head, smirking, "No can do, direct mentor orders. Work on defense,"

Reggie stared at him like he was crazy, before looking back at the camouflage section, "You can't spear someone with paint, man,"

Quill shrugged and stepped around a very angry looking group of careers. I followed and when we reached the camouflage station, we both sank to are knee's. I glanced at Quill, wanting to ask a question, but I forced myself to keep my mouth shut. He didn't deserve my words.

We sat there for about fifteen minutes, swirling colours onto are skin while the capitol man instructed us on what we were doing wrong and what we weren't. It soon became boring though and after a bit I could take anymore, so I rose to my feet. Quill was quick to come as well. He led us to a knot tying station.

It quickly became apparent that this was one of his specialties. His knots formed like he wasn't even touching, while I had trouble with each one. After about thirty minutes, I was working on a rather hard one that had to do with getting someone to hang by their leg in a tree. The instructor kept going on about it being one of the easiest, but it definitely didn't seem easy to me.

Quill had knot after knot set down beside him, but I could see him casting glances at my work out of the corner of his eye. Compared to mine, his were gold. I was thoroughly stuck right around now and getting way to tired with this.

Suddenly, Quill shifted, putting his arms around me. I stiffened, ready to smack the back of my head against his forehead, yet he makes no other move beside that. He carefully removes my hands from the knot and starts to tie it the right way, whispering instructions that help me more then the instructors ever could.

Then he's gone, a perfect trap laying in front of me. I stare at it for a few moments, fighting down a wave of emotion. No, I will not fall in love. I made that promise to myself many years back.

Quill is standing now, obviously wanting to leave, so after a moment I rise to my feet, turning to follow him as he moves to another station. This ones about edible plants.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to remember all this, but I take special notes of the berries. Berries had killed many a tribute in the arena. No red, that's for sure, and always make sure you look in the inside of them before eating. The juices can be just as poisonous as the skin.

After about another hour or two of this, I find myself unable to take anything with more defense. I can climb, I can tell berries apart and I can kind of tie a knot. We're just approaching the camouflage station when I pull to a stop.

Quill almost falls over when his chain runs out of leash. He turns his head to look at me in confusion and I speak up, "I can not take another minute of defense. I say we go use some weapons,"

Relief shows in Quill's eyes, plus a spark of something that disturbs me. The first place he turns is where a bunch of axes are hanging on the walls, "Lets go learn how to use those,"

I didn't move when he started to walk and he turned to look at me in exasperation, "What now?"

I grimaced, "I can't use the axes,"

He sighed, "Why not?"

I turned towards a knife throwing section, which I'm really good at, but its not my specialty, "Because I've been specifically told not to,"

Quill sighs, "Then at least let me try them out,"

I turn around again. His face looked like that of a child who wasn't being allowed to celebrate a holiday, or eat candy. Anger rose up in me, He's just like any other career. I managed to fight it back before it would show in my body language, then nodded, because I didn't trust myself to speak. He grinned and we went over to the axe station.

I sat down as he tried throwing different sized axes. I watched in growing boredom as he missed one after the other, despite the instructors prodding. Finally I couldn't take it any longer, "Hold it looser,"

He looked back at me in surprise, as if he'd forgotten about me, "What?"

I leaned my head back, taking a deep breath, before looking at him again, "I'm trying to help you, loosen your hand up, you're holding it to tight,"

For a few moments he just stared at me, then nodded and obeyed. He flung his arm back to throw, but my words stopped him in mid chuck, "Stop!"

He sighed, letting the axe fall to his side, "What now?" He turned to look at me, eyes obviously saying that he just wanted me to shut up. Well boy, that's not gonna happen, is it?

I struggled to my feet before walking over to him. I took his throwing arm, made sure that his hand was still loose on the hilt before tilting his arm back. The axe just barely brushed his shoulder, "Now throw it,"

He stared at me, "But there's not going to be any power behind the throw!"

I brought my breath in sharply through my teeth, "Just do it. You don't need power when you're just beginning,"

He turned back towards the target, tensed his muscles in his arm and threw the axe. To my surprise, and pleasure, it smacked into the arm of the target. If that had been a human, the wound would have been gushing.

We went on like that for a while, me letting him put more power into each throw as he became better and better. Finally, the axe flew out and buried itself in the targets chest, going so deep it would have killed a human right away. I nodded in satisfaction, before walking forward and wrenching the axe out of the hard material. The instructor watched with boredom, having stopped helping us when I told him to shut up.

I turned to face Quill, setting the axe in a bucket, "I'd say that's enough of this, "

I started to turn towards the knife throwing again, but Quill stopped me, "Wait, I want to see you throw an axe,"

I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, "No can do," Then I lowered my voice, "Its my secret talent," I made my voice sound scary and he laughed, much to my annoyance.

I dragged him towards the knife throwing, which was crowded with careers, but I was determined to at least practise my throwing abilities before dinner. Reggie glared at me as I stepped up, slipping in front of Ruby and grabbing five hefty knifes. I always found that with me, the heavier the better. Probably because I was used to throwing huge axes that most of the people in here couldn't even pick up.

The careers had stepped back to watch me. Being from district 7, they probably didn't expect me to know how to use anything weapons. It was plain information that girls didn't work with the guys. We either worked in the paper factories, or stores and sometimes with animals.

I closed my eyes, regulating my breathing until I felt at complete peace. My body was relaxed and each knife I held was like fire against my palm. Then I was a blur of motion.

Five knifes flew out, one after another. Four buried themselves in the targets heads, deep enough to pierce brain, while the fifth flew free. My doing, of course, I couldn't be perfect at everything, or else everyone would no my skill. Yet, I was using my skill as an axe, so really, I could afford to throw some knifes...

I reached for more knifes. One after another buried themselves into the targets. It wasn't long until the targets were beginning to look like pincushions. But this was to easy, they were to close. I grabbed another handful of knifes and twisted around, raising my knife. People leaped out of the way as I chucked one after another across the long room, where they pounded into the targets at the axe station.

I stopped, barely having broken a sweat. Some of the tributes were looking at me in shock, others in awe. District 1 and 2 were looking at me in hatred. I only glared at them, "I wouldn't let me get a hold of a knife, boys,"

Dinner was called and a large table was set in the middle of the room, along with a buffet. Quill trailed after me as I sat along on the right end of the table, looking longingly at the other side, where everyone else was sitting, but after a moment he sat down beside me, even though are chain would reach long enough so he could sit with his 'buddies'.

After a moment, he spoke up, "How did you do that?"

I swallowed the food in my mouth, glancing over at him and raising my eyebrows, "I aimed and shot,"

He sighed in exasperation, but didn't ask any more questions about how, he did ask some other questions though, "Why did you do it? Now you're going to be a prime target,"

I shrugged, "All the tributes keep their talents hidden, but I wanted to be different. If I'm going to die, I'm going down famous," I laughed bitterly.

Quill shocked me though, as he growled, "Your not dieing,"

I turned slightly to face him, "We all know I am. I'm no career. It doesn't matter anyway, I'm not going back to anything,"

Quill seemed to stiffen and turned to face me completely, "You have everything to go back to. A home, a family, friends,"

I laughed again and some people glanced over. My fingers were digging into the wood of the table, leaving gouges in it, "My home is a shack, my mom and sister died in an explosion and my father is in a constant coma like state and nobody talks to me anyway,"

I saw anger flash in Quill's eyes, "Whether or not, you have a future,"

I nodded, "Yep, with the dead,"

Quill's hand smacked into his plate, sending food flying across the table, everyone turned to look at us now as Quill stood over me, one hand gripping my chin while the other pointed viciously at me, "You will do everything in you power to stay alive!" then he sat back down and turned away. I'm sure he would have left if he wasn't chained to me.

I stared at the back of his head, before turning back around to eat.


	7. Chapter 7

In the next few days of training, Quill barely said anything to me, only to comment on something we were training over that he thought I should do. He didn't eat with me anymore, staying together with the careers. Not that I cared. Yet at night, I couldn't ignore the hurt that boiled inside me. After the speech he had made, you think that least he could do was talk to me.

We didn't tell Gregor about us disobeying his orders and from that moment on, we listened to him. I never went to the knife throwing station again and Quill didn't go back to the axe throwing station. I was fine with this.

I slowly got sick of the capitol food. It was just to good. I ate less and less, just enough to stay healthy and tried to pick out the less sweet delicacies. I only ate toast in the morning, usually plain or with peanut butter.

Quill and Gregor thought I was insane, constantly shoveling down the stuff in the buffets.

Once, they got me to give win a taste. At first I thought it was okay, but that was because I'd taken a small sip. The after taste wasn't so good though. Yet, when I took a sip of the whisky, I vomited right away all over the floor, before fainting, something that sometimes happened.

I came to in my bed that time and when I asked Gregor if he had taken me in, he had only laughed, "I would just have left you lying in your vomit. It was fisher boy who carried you to your room,"

I hadn't been able to look at him when he came to breakfast the next morning.

Finally, the day of the Game Makers came. I debated on what I wanted to do. Whether I should throw knifes or axes. If the other tributes thought I was good with axes, they were way wrong. I had always been better with an axe, still was, I hoped. Bright and early in the morning, we all sat around a table, and Reggie was called in first. We were being called in district by district, boy by girl.

When I sat down, Viclin sat down on one side and to my surprise, Quill sat down on the other side. I turned towards Viclin, "What are you planning on doing?"

He shrugged, "I really have no idea, I'm really good at camouflage, though,"

I forced myself to smile, patting him on the shoulder, "You'll do fine,"

He nodded, then his face lit up, "You should so throw the knifes like you did that other day! It would probably get you a twelve!"

I couldn't help smiling at his enthusiasm. I really hoped I didn't have to kill him in the arena, "I have something else up my sleeve, this time," He nodded, before turning as Reggie stepped out, looking very satisfied.

Sudden, hot breath on my ear made me stiffen, before Quill's voice breathed out, "You going to throw axes, right?"

I gave a small nod, before looking at him, "and you?"

He shrugged, "Probably gonna throw some spears,"

I'd never seen him with a spear, but I could just guess the damage he could do with one. A slight shudder ran down my body.

Soon it was Quill's turn. He stood and without even a glance at me, slipped away to go and see the game makers. I watch him leave for a moment, before leaning down and setting my head on my crossed arms.

District six girl came out and Viclin began to stand, but I looked up and stopped him, "Good luck," was all I said, but he got the message. He slipped inside and I waited impatiently for my turn to come.

When it did, I froze up for a few moments, before relaxing myself and standing up. I calmly walked forward to the doors and slipped inside.

The Game Makers were obviously getting bored, but most of them seemed to at least be keeping on eye on me. I paused, before walking over to a pile of target dummies and dragging them to their feet. I put them in a circle around my, before walking over to the axe section. I quickly picked the biggest axe, which was nothing compared to mine at home and stepped back into the section.

I paused to relax my body, slipping two of the axes onto the ground. I gripped one of them tightly in my hand, then I blurred into motion.

I swung it like I would when trying to cut down a tree. Each time, I took out two dummy heads at a time, which rolled across the ground, before I kicked over the bodies. It wasn't soon before there was a bunch of incapacitated heads and bodies around me, but I was already moving. Losing my grip on the handle and holding it in one hand, I reached down and grabbed the other two axes, before turning swiftly to the knife section.

I let the three axes go in a span of five seconds. Each one flew across the room and buried themselves in the targets heads, splitting some of their heads right in half. I was already backing up and grabbing two more axes from the bucket, chucking the hard and severing two arms. I grabbed four more and let them go in quick succession.

Two legs were severed and a head went flying, plus a stomach was gored, then it was over. I stood there, looking at the Game makers, who looked back at me with raised eyebrows. One of them nodded in dismissal and I turned, slipping out the door and into an elevator.

The elevator ride seemed to go by faster then it ever had before. I shifted from foot to foot still, though, then the door beeped and it opened up to the hall of me and Quill's floor. I stepped out of the elevator and stared at the wall for a few moments. I could hear Quill and Gregor talking, discussing strategy.

Suddenly I felt like a water faucet. A sob got caught in my throat, coming out more like a strangled moan. I slowly fell to my knees and another sob tried to break through my defenses. My eyes were squeezed shut, fighting against the tears. I would not cry! I would not show that weakness out in the open like this!

Still... who had I become? Before the capitol had taken me away, I'd been a rather quite, tom boy type of girl who cut wood. I'd never thought about killing, never thought about death. I wasn't even very mean back then. Yet, now I was sarcastic, mean, rude and I felt like a born killer.

I broke and the first sob escaped. It was loud, louder then I'd meant it to be. Then the tears were overflowing. I slid into the fetal position, sobbing and crying harder then I ever had before. Gregor and Quill had stopped talking, but I barely noticed. My chest was throbbing, but I couldn't stop.

I heard footsteps approaching me, then Quill was leaning over me. He carefully picked me up and I couldn't even protest because I was such a wreck. I buried my face in the crook of his neck and he walked me away down the hall. I felt the motion and heard him kick a door open, then we were in my room. He set me down on the bed carefully, squeezing my hand for a second, then started to pull away.

I wouldn't let him. I took his hand in both of my and refused to let go. My body was reacting out of need as much as my body was. After a moment, he sat down and shifted so that he was pretty much cradling me against his check, and that's how we sat for a very long time.

When I finally did start to calm down, he whispered in my ear, "What happened?"

I sniffled, "Nothing, nothing at all. I attacked some targets,"

I could see the confusion in Quill's eyes even as he spoke, "Then... why the break down?"

I pulled away, suddenly hyper aware of his body, "Why the breakdown? The break down is because of me! Its because of how much I've changed! I used to be the good girl. Death wasn't on my agenda. I never thought about killing. I never threw axes at dummies!"

He swallowed hard, "I can understand that... before I actually got here... I wanted to go to the arena,"

I snorted, "That has nothing to do with understanding what I feel. You got you're dream. I got my nightmare,"

He sighed, closing his eyes and pinching his eyebrows together, "My dream has changed, I only want to go home,"

I laughed bitterly, just another sign of how I'd changed, "Get used to it, buddy,"

Quill's hands fell down into his hands, "I didn't want to go home until I met you!"

I froze, my mind going blank to stop the trail of thoughts that were about to cascade down on me. Then he was gone, the door slamming shut on him.

I lay there for a long time, contemplating what he said. I wouldn't let myself feel anything towards him though. That was never, ever going to happen. Yet, when I suddenly heard a TV blare to life, I knew that I was going to have to go and see the scores.

After a moments pause, I pushed myself from bed and opened the door, trudging down the hall until I reached the kitchen. For a moment I stared at the two men and Vase. Then I went and sat on the couch beside Gregor, not even looking at Quill.

The scores began to flash across the screen. Reggie got an 8 and Ruby got a 9. When Quill's name appeared with a 9, Vase let out a loud squeal and clapped her hands down on his shoulders, making him jump.

The next people ranged between 5 to seven, one even getting so low as to get a 3. Then Viclin appeared. To my immense pleasure, he scored a 7. I hoped he was happy with that.

Then my picture was there. I wasn't smiling, but you could see the determination in my eyes.

12.

12.

I felt my mouth drop open, my breath whistling out and my eyes widening. Vase literally screamed and I think Quill gasped. Gregor chuckled darkly, muttering something about 'target'.

Vase was breathing hard and had her arms around my neck in a hug that I felt like would leave bruises. She kept say, over and over, "How, how, how, how, how?"

I faltered for a moment, mouth turned down in a frown, "I just cleaved some heads off with an axe and threw them around,"

Quill smirked slightly, "and I can just guess that you didn't miss,"

I nodded. My head was spinning and I felt like vomiting again, but I forced myself to keep my food down.

Gregor spoke up, the chuckle still in his voice, "Well, this has never happened before to one of my tributes. Looks like I finally did something right!" He laughed again and I glared at him from the corner of my eye, but he pointed to the buffet, "Get something to eat, I start training you for your interviews tomorrow,"

I nodded, getting to my feet and grabbing a plate. I wasn't very hungry, so I just grabbed a chicken wing and escaped to my room.

Sleep came fast that night.


	8. Note

Before we go any farther, I want to make a small note.

When I said at first that Peeta and Katniss had never happened, I'd meant that Catching fire had never happened.

Since one of their relatives in the books :P


	9. Chapter 8

The next two days were torture. Between Vase trying to make me lady-like, which my mom had failed terribly at, and Gregor trying to find out my personality, I was an emotion and physical wretch.

The first day with Vase was the hardest in my opinion, the moment I walked into the room, she was all over me, stripping me naked and putting me into this humongous yellow dress that blinded me just to look at it, before putting me into high heels that were twice as tall as the ones I'd had on before this, at the opening ceremony.

She made me walk for her and she had to admit that I had some practise with high heels, which was true. Yet the way I was holding the dress made her go ballistic. When I didn't hold it, though, I was tripping over it.

Then Vase got into sitting. Every position we tried didn't look good to her. I tried with crossed legs, with straight legs, with a lazy, yet elegant posture. Nothing worked. She ended up screaming into a pillow, which was pretty funny.

In the end of the second day and the end of the training, she looked me over and nodded, "That's the best I can do, lets hope you don't make a laughing stock of yourself,"

I stared at her for a few minutes, before turning and starting to strip the huge dress off my body. It was great to be back in my normal clothing after that.

Then again, Gregor was a pretty hard teacher, the first time I stepped into his room, the first thing he yelled at me was stop! I'd jumped about a foot off the ground, but it had stopped me all right. He had walked around me for about three minutes, then sighed and threw his head back in the air, "I don't know! You have nothing that the capitol wants to see naturally... we're gonna have to dig something out of you,"

The things that I couldn't do soon became apparent. I couldn't be sweet, I had to much built up anger in me. I wasn't sexy, my body just didn't work that way. I wasn't dark and mysterious. Gregor said I shined with an internal light. I wasn't quiet. I didn't need to ask why about that one. Most of all, I wasn't girly. I'd never been girls. I was a tomboy, for crying out loud!

In the end, we worked mostly with bored, but I wasn't good at that at all. Some questions made me perk up angrily, others made me laugh. Gregor said there was a constant glint in my eyes that just didn't go along with 'bored'.

In the end, I'd thrown my arms up in the air, "Whats Quill doing?"

Gregor had shrugged, "Charming, of course, "

I'd lay my head back on the couch, thoroughly tired of this, "Why am I not surprised?"

In the end, it turned out I was a personality dud. Gregor had been very annoyed at this, muttering stuff like 'this never happens to me' and 'its usually only district 12!' I watched him and on the second day, we'd just sat there and played cards.

As I was leaving the room, he'd clapped a hand down on my shoulder and just shook his head, before practically shoving me out the door.

Right at this moment, I was sitting on a chair in my room, waiting for my prep team to show up, plus running one hand up and down the stubble that would be gone by the end of today. I closed my eyes as I heard the tell tale squeals of them coming, then they burst into my room.

They hadn't changed at all. The moment they were inside, they were telling me to strip and I quickly got naked. Makapla ran a bath while Flur began to fix up my eyebrows, horrified by how much they'd grown in such a little time. Tiplaka was working away at my finger nails already.

They maneuvered me into the bathroom and into the tub and I was forced to endure fifteen minutes of scrubbed, pricking and filing. Then I was being dragged back out. Flur instantly got to work on my hair, blow drying it and then curling it wildly around my head and hooking it on the top somehow. Tiplaka began to paint my fingernails, a light blue colour. Obviously we were doing another water theme.

They waxed me again, but this time I was much more prepared, so I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stick through it. It went by faster this time, since my legs weren't as hairy and nothing was left over afterwards. They still went over me with tweezers though.

After this, they began to spread sparkles over my body. I stared at them in confusion, but I wasn't able to look down at my legs because Flur was braiding strands that were hanging along the sides of my face. With each braid, he slipped a blue bead on. Afterwards, he applied the same sparkling material to my face, before putting light blue eye shadow on me and making some designs around my eyes.

Finally they stepped back, observing my body. Then they all broke into grins, screeching stuff like 'we did it again!' and 'she's gonna be loved!'. I just stared at them until finally they grabbed my hands and dragged me out of the bathroom.

Flavish was already out there and he was quick to praise the prep team. He instructed me to close my eyes again, as he had before and I was quick to do so. I raised my arms carefully and he slipped something over my body. It only seemed to reach halfway down my thighs, which made me feel a little vulnerable. He stepped me into a pair of knee high boots and slipped a pair of elbow length gloves onto me, before stepping back.

His voice showed the excitement he was feeling, "You can look now,"

My eyes cracked open and the mirror was already in front of me, this time moved with a little bit more expertise. I stared at myself, mouth hanging open in shock.

The dress landed were it felt like and was coloured a deep blue, with dappled markings all over it, like sun reflecting off the water. It was strapless but fit my figure perfectly. Every time I shifted, it sparkled brilliantly, still showing sun reflecting off water. My body sparkled along with it, every corner, as did the boots and gloves, which were the exact same shade as the dress.

My hair was curled and a bunch of it was pinned on the very top of my head, falling down like a cascade of water. The strands that fell around my face were braided and fixed with blue beads that sparkled in the light. My lips were lightly sparkled and glossed, while my face sparkled. The blue eyeshadow around my eyes complimented my eyes greatly and glowing wave designs cupped my eyes, but no where's else.

I just stood there, trying to breath in, but finding myself unable to. Everyone was waiting for my reaction and I forced myself to speak. Every time they decorated me like this I seemed to be unable to speak, "I... I love it!"

They squealed, ushering me from the room as we made are way to the vehicle, which I would be sharing with Quill. I wondered what he looked like.

We reached the vehicle and I quickly climbed in, shifting around in my dress as I tried to figure out how to sit with one like this. I barely noticed Quill staring at me until I finally looked up. I jumped about a foot in the air, staring at him in shock.

He was dressed in a pair of brown pants that looked exactly like wood and a green, dappled shirt, like leaves. His hair had been left alone and his face was designed with leaves and sparkles, like sun going through leaves. His lips were a burgundy colour, as were his boots and the gloves he wore, which only went to his wrists.

For a long moment we just stared at each other, then pain seemed to flash in his eyes and he turned away, staring out the window in the darkening streets.

-----------------

It didn't take us long to reach the interview building and we quickly made are way inside before anyone would notice us. There was no time to talk to anyone so we just went along with the flow. I caught a glimpse of Viclin, dressed in simple brown clothing.

People stared at us, but soon we were being seated. Quill seemed lost in thought as he sat down beside me though sometimes his eyes flickered my way. I unsuccessfully tried to ignore him and that only made me more mad.

The interviews started and people began to cry out, or sigh, or laugh. I waited impatiently for are turn to come, but it seemed to take a very long time. Ruby was going for tough, Reggie obviously trying to be dangerous, which he was naturally good at. Viclin was sweet and innocent. The girl from district 5 was sexy all the way.

Finally, the boy in front of me took his seat again and it was my turn. I steeled myself, unsure how the capitol would react to my outfit and stood up and walked out.

The screams were instant, they obviously loved it. I smiled and waved at them, before sitting down beside Caesar, who was dressed in orange. Orange hair, orange make up, orange suit. It made me think of vomit.

I barely have sat down before Caesar is speaking up, "So, Tivra, right?" I nod and he smiles, his teeth shockingly bright, "Tell me, what was your reaction to being reaped? Weren't you excited?"

I grit my teeth together, then shrug, "Oh wasn't really that surprised, actually. I was expecting something like that to happen sooner or later,"

Caesar raises an eyebrow, shock evident on his face, "Really? Well that's definitely interesting! So, whats you favorite part about the Capitol?"

I paused, as if debating on what to say, before giving a big smile, "Obviously all the wonderful, amazing people here! You're all just so sweet!"

People cheered, calling out my name and I wish I could slap them all, smack some sense into their perfect little heads, but Caesars speaking again, "Well, I'm sure we can all say that we were shocked by the opening ceremonies! You're dress was absolutely dazzling! And that kiss! What were your thoughts on that?"

I froze. All of Gregor's advice rushed through my head, swirling there. I know that I should be giggling, acting like it was a shock but not a bad thing. I pushed my lips together for a minute, then sigh, "Well, I think it was complete irresponsible! But I wasn't repulsed!"

Caesar laughed and the rest of the crowd caught up, but I know that I hadn't played my card right. Dang it, Tivra! Can't you do anything right?.

Ceaser was quick to get the interview back on track, "This dress! It is absolutely beautiful! What do you think of it?

I paused, before smiling at the camera, "Well, I think its to short, but I guess if the crowd likes it... Lets just say my dad is not going to be happy with me!" I shrugged and Caesar laughed again.

"Well, why don't you tell me about your family?" Caesar asked and I could instantly see the regret in his eyes when he saw pain flash across my face, but I quickly obscured it.

"Well, I live with my dad and we both work in the lumber business. I love him very much and hope that he's happy and is proud of me," Caesar reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"That's wonderful, dear. Any special guys back home, well, of course, besides the one here," He winked at me and I shrugged, trying to look a little embarrassed by the question.

"Not as far as I can tell. So far, there's only been one guy that's taken a liken in me," I felt the blush rising up in my cheeks. Perfect.

He nodded, "Well, that's good for the golden boy, isn't it, everyone?" There were cheers through the crowd and I went red again, but Caesar turned back to me, "So, a twelve? How did you manage that?"

I grinned, "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

To my relief, the bell rang and Caesar dismissed me with a, "Happy Hunger Games," I just nodded and stepped of the stage, trying to tune out the cheers and cries of my name. Turns out my sucky interview hadn't changed what people felt towards me. That was good, we were going to need sponsors.

I sat down beside Quill, trying to keep myself from hyperventilating. He didn't look at me as his name was called. He stood up and strutted towards the stage, flashing the audience a grin that sent them screaming and falling over each other. He sat down beside Cesar, who managed to calm to audience down.

Caesar turned to face Quill, already smiling at him, "So, how about we start with the same question we did with Tivra? What was your reaction?"

Quill smiled, turning dark eyes to look at the audience, "Well, I can easily tell you that I was very surprised that I was going to get to meet all these wonderful people," He winked at the audience and about half the women swooned.

I tuned his interview out after that, but was forced out of it when Caesar asked how Quill felt towards me. Quill paused, eyes seeming to be fighting an internal battle, then he sighed, "I'm really not sure how I feel about her... but I'm pretty sure she hates me,"

I froze, eyes widening in anger, that had nothing do with the plan. I ducked my head as the camera's swung around to see my expression. It would only confirm it if they saw my anger. I forced myself to ignore the rest of his interview and finally he came back to sit my me, stiff with tension. The rest of the tributes went up slowly, including a girl that was only twelve years old from District 12. I had never noticed her before.

Her hair was black, almost as black as mine yet her eyes were a startling shade of red. When she smiled, it made you think she was just to cute. Caesar shook the little girls hand. She was dressed in a small, red dress, "So, Arizona Mellark, what was your re..." I drowned them out again, but not before I realized she was related to a past winner, Peeta Mellark, who was pretty famous all on his own.

Finally the interviews were done and me and Quill slipped away into a vehicle and returned to the training center. Suddenly, as I stood in the elevator with Quill, all I could think about was that I was going into the arena tomorrow. I squeezed my eyes closed, regulating my breathing strictly.

If I had kept my eyes open, I wouldn't have seen Quill approach me.

When I opened them again, his face was right in front of mine, his breath mingling with mine. I did a double take and would have smacked my head hard against the wall if his hand hadn't cushioned it. I stared at him, then just barely breathed, "Yes?"

All he said was, "We're going into the arena tomorrow..."

I nodded and there was a sudden ding. We'd reached are floor. He pulled away and swiftly left the small space. I took a deep breath, the sudden breeze where his body had been a moment before chilling me.

I would not fall in love.

That was probably the only thing that kept me from kissing him that night, the fact that I couldn't break that promise to myself. I couldn't love someone that I was going to kill.

I slowly made my way to my room, feeling like the very walls were watching me. I opened the door and closed it quietly, before slipping into the bathroom and getting into the shower. It wasn't until a few minutes afterwards that I realized I was still in my dress, which was soaking wet. I stripped it off and let it drop to the ground at my feet, floating in the shallow pool of water.

I didn't bother to do anything beside stand under the water. My hair fell to pieces and I managed to undo the braids and let the beads trickle off and down the drain. Finally I stepped out of the shower, closing my eyes for a moment before I died off and went to my bed, crawling under the covers.

----------

I was running through thick trees, my stomach gored open by my own axe. My face was covered in blood, but still I kept running. I could hear a cackling behind me, getting steadily closer. I picked up the pace, but only managed to trip myself on a root and fall flat on my face.

Suddenly Reggie was leaning over me, his face twisted into a sadistic smile, knife in hand. He began to carve my eyes out and my screams echoed through the trees and I fell him grip my eyeball. Horrible pain exploded there.

Out of my other eye, I could see Arizona standing there, my axe in her hand. She could have gored Reggies head open right then, but instead she turned and walked away. My screaming increased...

"Tivra! Tivra! Wake up!"

I started awake, only to find Quill leaning over me, shaking my shoulders. I was gasping and my throat was raw from screaming. I shook him up, hands scrambling at my left eye, expecting there to only be an empty, gaping, bloody hole. To my immense relief, my eye was still intact.

I leaned back against the pillow, closing my eyes and rubbing one hand through the tangle of black hair on my head. Quill looked at me for a second, before whispering, "Nightmare?"

I nodded and he coughed, "Um... do you want me to stay?"

I opened my eyes to look at him. The golden boy, the one that held the puzzle piece of mine and after a moment, I shook my head. He faltered, staring at me, before shrugging and slipping out of my room.

I rolled over and closed my eyes, but sleep would not come, so after a moment I sat up and slipped to the bathroom. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The mess of black hair around my head, the dark blue eyes. I couldn't help thinking about how if someone grabbed my hair in the arena, I was as good as gone...

I opened a drawer, a suddenly idea blossoming in my mind. I took out a pair of scissors and took the first stand in my fingers, pulling it tight and cutting it at the very base.


	10. Chapter 9

The next morning, the realization hit me.

I was going into the arena.

To fight to my death.

I probably wouldn't come back alive.

I rose out of bed and slipped into the bathroom, brushing my teeth. I spit and rinsed then rose my head up to look at my appearance. I did a double take as I saw my hair. I'd completely forgotten.

It was a horrible cut, some spots longer then others and sticking out in spikes all over the place. I touched my forehead, suddenly all to happy that I hadn't shaved my head. At least I still had something to run my hands threw. I took a deep breath, accepting my new hair-do with quiet calm. Then I stripped and stepped into the shower, positive I'd enjoy it. This would probably be my last shower.

Afterwards, I slipped into a pair of khaki pants and a black t-shirt, before walking to the door. I faltered, wondering how the others would react to my new hair-do. Then I decided that I really didn't care. I opened the door and walked down the hall, ignoring the Avox's that happened to glance my way.

In the dining room, breakfast was already laid out. Gregor was shoveling food into his mouth, anxiety clear on his face, but when he saw me he stopped completely, staring at me like I was an alien. Then he raised and eyebrow and shrugged. I smirked, shoving my own pile of food onto my plate.

I was halfway through my plate when Quill walked in, already halfway through a question to Gregor when he saw me. I could tell because of they way he fell silent.

I just kept on eating, not even looking at him.

Slowly, angrily, he spoke, "What... did... you... do?!" I turned to look at him. His eyes were aflame with anger, his lips pressed together tightly.

I shrugged, "I cut my hair, its something that girls do a lot,"

I wasn't expecting his reaction, so I almost fell out of my chair when he exploded, "You cut off your hair!" His hand flew out, knocking the table over and splintering the wood. He was on me in a second, hands on my shoulder and thrusting me against the wall, "Cut your hair!" I stared at him, surprised by his reaction, barely noticing the pain in my back. This wasn't what I was expecting.

Gregor wrenched Quill off of me and I fell to the floor, having not even noticed that he'd lifted me up. Quill stormed from the room and Gregor sighed, "That boy had anger management problem,"

I snickered, before retreating to my own room. It was time to go, I knew that.

---------

I was standing on my plate, waiting for it to rise up and into the arena. Flavish was pacing in front of me. He'd dressed me in a pair of work pants, plus a plain white t-shirt and a jacket made of thin material. Plus a pair of boots, soft leather, perfect for working outside.

The only thing I could do was wait. Flavish wouldn't even speak to me, except for the 'good luck' he'd given me in the beginning. Gregor had already said goodbye to me, saying he really thought I had a chance of winning. Vase had burst into hysterics at the sights of me and started crying.

I was to busy zoning everything out to notice.

I turned to Flavish, setting my hands against the glass separating us, yet he didn't even look at me. I was about to say something, when I was suddenly rising. I almost fell down, but managed to stay upright. Flavish still didn't look at me and instead I looked upwards. Light spilled in above me, blinding me and suddenly I was in the arena.

At first I couldn't see anything. There was only blinding light. I could make out a sort of lapping sound and I squeezed my eyes shut, before blinking them over and over again. Everything became clear and with it, my horror set in.

Water, water everywhere.

It stretches for miles. A shocking shade of blue. All the tributes were in a circle, standing on their own plates with the cornucopia in the middle, shining golden in the sunlight. Off in the distance, I could barely make out land.

This was horrible!

I couldn't swim!

All of a sudden, a light blue ring appeared around my ankle, before a rope seemed to reach out from it. It was obviously virtual and I looked up to see where it went and saw that it connected with a similar looking ring around Quill's ankle.

So this is how they plan on keeping us together.

Quill was staring at me in surprise. I was pretty sure he'd been planning on abandoning me right at the start.

Suddenly, trumpets were blaring. Claudius Templesmith's voice could be heard, loud and clear, "Welcome to the 100th Quarter Quell! Before we begin, I suggest you don't kill you're partner, or else you will die yourself. Though you don't have to worry about dieing if someone else kills your partner, that is much different! If you manage to both stay alive through the games, you can both go home! May the odds be ever in your favor!" Then his voice was ringing.

My mind was in panic. I was going to drown. Iwasgoingtodrown. I couldn't stop thinking that over and over again.

Suddenly the bong sounded and I was thinking that maybe I would just stay on my plate and wait for Quill to come and get me, since he obviously would have to, when the plates began to recede into the water. I panicked as the water began to rise fast. It wasn't long until I was up to my neck and kicking wildly in an attempt to stay afloat.

Quill was racing towards the cornucopia, obviously not knowing about my inability to swim. I was doing my best, but suddenly the line went taught around my ankle and I was being dragged along behind Quill. My head went under as my foot rose. I didn't have time to get air and water went down my throat. Suddenly, the tension released a little bit and I was able to flail to the top, spitting water out and trying to get a mouthful of air. I could barely see Quill, grabbing different weapons. He had just speared a girl through the heart when I was going under.

I think I saw him look at me.

Still, the action had obviously made him forget about any thoughts of me.

After a few moments, I began to accept my fate, I was sinking fast and I had no air left. My arms trailed up above me, yet my clothes were weighing me down. My open eyes stared at the flickering water top as I sunk deeper and deeper. It was so much more peaceful down here.

My vision was just starting to go black when suddenly shape burst the pretty scene above. The figure was kicking down towards me faster then I was falling and suddenly hands were gripping the bottoms of my arms. I made out Quill's face before he turned upwards and kicked out wildly. He was obviously a strong swimmer, but found it even hard to swim when holding dead weight.

Right, that was me.

Suddenly my head broke the surface of the water. I started to choke, water spewing from my mouth faster then water could get in. Quill was managing to stay afloat and pound my chest at the same time, screaming something about staying alive.

I was finally able to take in a deep breath and everything became clearer. I blinked around me. Chaos had erupted. People were being forced to learn how to swim and there were a few bodies floating around, many of them in their own pools of blood. To my horror, I recognized Viclin as one of them. Ruby was still alive though, so obviously she hadn't killed him.

Quill seemed to falter, looking back at the cornucopia, then at me, then at land. He seemed to make a mental decision, before kicking off towards land, keeping my head above water the whole time.

It was shocking how fast he could swim, even with me weighing him down and it wasn't long until the land became closer and closer. Obviously it wasn't as far away as I'd thought at first. Yet, we finally did reach land. He dragged me onto the sand and I went limp, gasping even though I hadn't done anything.

Quill lay down, gasping for breath as he tried to regain his energy. Obviously the swim had drained him, even though he had been able to keep a steady pace. When he spoke, his words were forced, "You... never... told... me... you... couldn't... swim," There was a pause between each words.

I rolled my head to look at him and snapped, though my words came out rough because of my raw throat, "I wasn't... expecting to get.... thrown... into an ocean,"

He moaned, lying his head back and just laying like that for a while. It was me that got us going again, even though I had been the one that had almost drowned. I walked over to Quill and lugged him to his feet, even as he protested. I ignored the numerous bongs that sounded as person after person died, but I could see people in the distant starting to slowly make their way towards land.

"We have to go, we have to set up shelter," I whispered and he obviously agreed with this. He trudged off in front of me and for the first time I noticed that he had a pack on. At the edge of the woods he stopped, taking the back pack off and opening it, before pulling out an axe and handing it to me.

I stared at it for a minute, before hefting it in my hands. It wasn't as big as I'd like it to be, but it would do. Quill slung the pack back over his shoulders, "We'll go over the rest of the supplies later, now lets go,"

He slipped into the woods, but it soon became obvious that this wasn't his best terrain. After a moment, I slipped in front of him. To my relief, he didn't protest, which meant there were no conflicts that could cause trouble later on. We made better process now as I picked out the best paths, sometimes being forced to sever down vines and such to get through a certain pert of a forest.

At one point, Quill began to tire and fall behind. I didn't notice and he made no sign that it was happening, so it was quite a shock when the line suddenly when tense. I fell forward, face planting myself in the grass. Quill fell down a few feet behind me, I could tell from the thump as he hit the ground.

I sat up on one elbow, turning slightly to face Quill, who was just turning to face me. He grimaced and I shrugged, "Break?"

He nodded and we made quick work of setting up a camp. We wouldn't be staying here long, since we couldn't afford to let any of the other tributes catch up to us. My mouth tasted as dry as sand, but we had yet to come across a source of water. It must be some where's though.

We didn't dare start a fire, even though the temperature was dropping as the sun got closer to the horizon. Quill took off his back pack, setting it down in front of me. I quickly flip it open and dug inside.

We'd got lucky. I came up with two bottles of water, which were full. Quill instantly reached for one, probably planning on chugging it, but I slapped his hand away, glaring at him. He stared at me for a second, then shrugged and turned away.

There were three knifes inside, each surrounded by a protective casing and I handed two to Quill, keeping on for myself. I also found one sleeping bag, which I guessed would reflect body heat back to the body when sleeping. There was a small can of iodine for purifying water some rope, plus a small package of crackers and some dried meat and fruit.

I rocked back on my heels, surveying our supplies. It would keep us going long enough to find a source of water, I hoped. I passed one bottle of water to Quill, who eagerly twisted the cap off, but I stopped him again, "Take one small sip. Just enough to wet your throat and mouth,"

He glared at me for a minute and I glared back, before hissing at him, "You're not a career anymore, so I suggest you listen to me, golden boy,"

To my shock, he did, taking a small sip and swishing it around his mouth, before swallowing and passing the bottle back to me. I nodded, placing it back in the bag and taking an even smaller sip myself. It wasn't much, but it would have to hold me over.

I didn't even look at the food. We would have to hold ourselves over until we could catch something with the rope. Maybe I'd even been able to catch something with my axe.

My whole body suddenly went rigid as noise reached me over the rustling of leaves. Voices. Feminine but obviously coming our way. I quickly stuffed the rest of the things in my bag. Quill had heard it as well and was already halfway up a tree. I followed closely, shinnying my way up even faster them him.

We were obscured by the leaves when two girls broke into clearing, looking around. I instantly recognized one as the Mellark girl. The other girl was from District 9, I think. She appeared to be about fifteen, with straight blond hair and a small, petite face.

Arizona spoke up, looking around, "I could have sworn I heard someone... Did you, Piska?"

Piska nodded, her eyes searching the clearing slowly, carefully. They obviously weren't expecting someone to be up in the trees. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Quill raising his knife, aiming at Arizona, but I raised a hand to stop him. I could see potential allies here. He lowered the knife carefully, shifting position only slightly. Yet the leaves rustled beneath him anyway.

Piska's eyes snapped upwards, looking straight into mine. I could see things going through her mind, like my score in the training center. She was already lifting a knife with expertise, almost faster then I could.

Quill was shifting, like he was expecting to lunge in front of me and kill himself...

Then the arrow pierced Piska's forehead.


	11. Chapter 10

[This chapter is longer because I combined two chapters because they were both to short.]

They burst out of the tree's just as we've reached the leaves. I quickly twist, burrying my self in the leaves as fast as I can. Ruby is in the lead, absolutely bounding across the field. We never would have made it if I hadn't changed course, I know that now. Reggie is right behind her, trailing a long a boy that I think is from District 5. He looks absolutely terrified.

Its not that that has me constantly staring at Reggie and Ruby, though. It's the armor that coats their bodies, obviously hard enough to block a knife. My small hatchet would have no effect on them. I needed a big axe. Under my breath, I spoke, "I need one of my districts axes,"

Almost instantly, the package is there, tangling into the twigs beside me. My head snaps to the right, as does Quill's as we make out our first gift from our sponsors. I almost instantly know that its from me and I also know that its the thing I'd just asked for.

Quill starts to reach towards it with one hand, but my other hand is already around his wrist, stopping him in mid grab. My eyes are on Reggie, who has suddenly stiffened, causing Ruby to freeze. They had obviously heard something and whether it was us or not, I knew that we were in trouble.

Yet, to my relief, they began to turn back towards the forest... and that's when I see it.

Its huge, the largest thing I'd ever seen. It must be about the size of my house back home. Its long as well, with sleek, black fur spread over its body. Large canines poke past the lips, saliva dribbling down to land in the grass. Its tail whipped back and forth as it stared at the careers, who stared back in shock.

It was obviously feline, down to its prowling grace and whiskers and it very obviously was looking for a taste of Ruby and Reggie, plus the other boy, who had stupidly began to scream his head off. He reminded me of Viclin during the day of the reaping.

I forgot all about keeping quiet. Instead, I yank the axe from the twigs, letting go of Quill's wrist. I quickly rip off all packaging and grip the handle tightly. It must be four times the size of the hatchet and is a ton heavier, but I've been carrying these around my whole life. The handle is so warn from past users that you can actually feel the spots where their fingers sat.

For a moment, all I do is weigh it in my hands. I'd never taken a token with me, but I guess you could count this as it. I wouldn't mind having the silk ribbon my mother had tied on the package for my dress, but that was probably still sitting on my bed.

The cat was approaching the careers slowly and they were backing up just as slowly. I quickly began to swing down from the tree, ignoring Quill's protest and hissing back up at him, "After that... thing is done with the careers, who do you think will be next? We have to move! Now!"

He didn't pause after that, swinging down from the tree even faster then I had. My eyes calculated the odds in a minute. If we ran for the thinner forest, we would definitely get there faster, but the thicker forest would offer better protection, but being as the cat had come from the thicker forest, it was probably more aware of that territory.

"Thinner forest," I decided, before grabbing Quill's wrist and sprinting all out.

Behind me, I heard the cat give out a throaty roar, before the boys screams pick up a notch, falling into harmony with Ruby's. I couldn't resist looking back to see the outcome of the screams. Reggie and Ruby, plus the other boy had obviously gotten the same idea as they had and were positively charging towards the forest.

The ground shook as the cat took one bounding step forward. I snapped my head forward, running faster then I had thought possible. My axe was gripped tightly in one hand and the hatchet had been long forgotten back at the tree.

The forest came up on us fast and it wasn't long until twigs were slapping across my face, leaving thin, stinging welts. I didn't notice, the growls from behind making terror take hold of my heart. All thoughts of watching out for other tributes were forgotten in my need to get away from the monster behind me.

Terror was like a blanket, dark against my mind. Chill's ran up my back, but my legs refused to even consider stop moving. Even when I tripped and fell, dragging Quill down with me, I was only scrambling up again, this time screaming as I ran even faster then before.

I don't believe that I've ever felt real panic.

Even when the roars disappeared behind me and a cannon sounded, I still couldn't stop. It was only when Quill managed to speed up and wrap his arms around my waist, lifting me off my feet, that I began to see some sense. Still, it took a while for me to completely calm down and even when I did, the tears still streamed down my face.

Quill set me down after a bit and I just turned around, staring into the darkness. There's only nine left... only nine. It seemed to be going by so fast, faster then it ever had before, yet the nine left before her were probably the strong ones, the ones that would survive as long as possible, the ones she would have to fight.

After a moment, she hunched her shoulders, not looking at Quill as she spoke, "Lets move on, we only have so long,"

I started to walk and his footsteps indicated that he was following. I kept my head ducked, lips pressed together, trying to forget the panic that I had just faced. I would not let something like that happen again. From now on, I needed to stay calm. I needed to win, to return home.

I knew that wasn't going to happen.

The odds were never in my favor.

To my relief, Quill stayed quiet, trudging along behind me. The thin tree's around us left me wary, always tense. I held my newly earned axe in both hands, waiting for something to jump out at me. It was only a matter of time.

Shockingly enough, nothing comes. Maybe its because of the strain of the day, maybe its because of the horror of the games, but for some reason, no one is jumping out with a knife and killing me.

It really is a relief.

It isn't long until night is falling, darkness falling over the forest like a heavy blanket. Agonizingly slowly, I stop, glancing into the darkness, squinting in an attempt to make anything out. Its to dark though, there's no light.

I look up into the tree's, unsure if that will be an option tonight, but even though the tree's may be thin on the bottom, they are thick on the top. I pause, staring up at the tempting mass off leaves, but there's no way that I can get up there without risking falling and killing myself. Not to mention that Quill is an even worse climber then me.

I sigh, fighting to keep my head from hanging in defeat, "We're going to have to sleep on the ground tonight," I hate the very idea, it means exposure, it means one of us having to be awake at all times, keeping watch. I'd love to keep moving, but I know that its impossible. My eyes are heavy with fatigue.

We make camp quickly, which really only consists of us clearing off the ground a little bit. We don't dare to set a fire and we both take a little bit of water, leaving us with less then half left. We'll need to come across a water source very, very soon, or else we could end up dieing of dehydration. The thought sends chills down my back.

I suddenly wish that we hadn't accidentally dropped the rabbit I'd caught a while back, even though it wouldn't have been good by now. We could have used it for bait, though. Caught something bigger, something human...

Quill offers to take first watch and after a moment I agree, crawling into the chilled sleeping bag. It isn't long until my body heat has warmed it up and is chasing the chills away. Yet, I am unable to fall asleep. Instead, I lay there awake, staring at the back of Quill's head. His white blond head.

I sit like that for a very, very long time, wishing that the exhaustion that's just on the edge of my mind would overcome me. I'm surprised that he can't feel my gaze. If he was staring at me like that, I'm sure I would have become aware of it by now. Must be what comes with living in a high district.

Haha, my own joke... I think.

I let another thirty minutes or so pass before finally I begin to struggle out of the sleeping bag, which has become much to hot for my liking. The cool air is bliss, even though I know that it will be getting freezing soon. Quill and me would probably end up having to watch in the sleeping bag.

I sit down beside Quill, causing him to jump, but he doesn't speak as I set my head down on my knee's, feeling like crying but not wanting to show that weakness. Instead, I stare at the sky until finally the trumpets play. It's time to find out who's dead and who's alive.

The first face to flash across the sky is Reggie's, locked in a furious scowl. I watch it unemotionally. Next is Reggie's partner, the boy from District 5 and finally the girl from District 10.

The career group is broken up this year, I can tell that. It's odd, since usually it works the other way around. This Hunger Game's is definitely special in its own way.

The trumpets play once more, then there's only silence. I sit there, staring at nothing, my eyes glazed over. I could feel Quill's gaze on the side of my head, something that he hadn't been able to do, as stated before, but I didn't take much note of it. Yet, it wasn't long until the world started to pull me back and his gaze became uncomfortable.

I stood up, pacing towards a tree across the small clearing we sat in, kicking at it for a few moments. After a moment, I turned back, ignoring Quill's gaze as I grabbed my axe. I turned back to the tree, raised the axe to the side before smashing it deep into the wood. It was heaven, to be doing this once again, to fall into this routine. It wasn't long until I stopped though, preferring not to cut down the tree.

Then, Quill spoke, "Tivra..."

I could instantly hear where this conversation was going and I spun around to face him, pointing viciously at his face, "Just shut up, Quill! Shut up for once!"

He stared at me for a few moments, eyes hard, "Will you just listen to me for once?"

I grimaced, sighing, "No, I won't. I don't want to hear your words. I don't want to have to think about that stuff. I'm not looking for a relationship! Especially not right now, not in the middle of the arena,"

He stared at me, eyes sad, but when he spoke his voice was surprisingly steady, "That wasn't what I was going to ask you,"

I stared at him, mouth gaping open, trying to blink away the shock. I was about to say something else, when Quill suddenly stiffened.

I only got a split second warning. A twig snapping behind me. That's why I didn't die right away. I began to twist instead, knowing that I was about to get attacked and oh, how right I was.

The pain of having a spear shoved through you're shoulder is indescribable.

Quill was leaping to his feet, grabbing his weapons and already lunging forward. I was falling forward, warm blood rushing between my fingertips, which were gripping the point of the spear. My knee's hit the ground, sending a shudder through my body and pain radiating through my body. I gasped, fighting back a scream that would alert people of are ware abouts.

Quill's knife whistled past my ear, before a thump sounded from behind me, followed by a cannon firing. I had fallen over, laying face down in the grass, my breath coming fast and heavy. I faintly made out Quill saying my name, a pain as he yanked the spear out before using his hands to try and slow the flow of blood.

He was yelling at me, which wasn't helping with the headache I was quickly obtaining. I grimaced up at him, narrowing my eyes as I wished that he would shut up. Instead, he slapped my face. I felt something reverberate through the back of my throat, maybe a growl.

Was he trying to hurt me more then I was already hurt?

Wait... maybe he wasn't even on my side. Maybe he was about to kill me and win the games himself. Something was wrong about that thought, but I began to kick out, managing to claw with the one hand that I could lift. He couldn't kill me! I wouldn't let him! I needed to stay alive!

Darkness began to creep in at the edges of my vision. I squinted, trying to make it recede. It was impossible and finally I managed to hiss out a sentence at the guy leaning over me, "Don't kill me,"

Then blackness fell over me... and the nightmares began.

Nightmares happened a lot in whatever place I was. My mind was constantly whirling, throwing random images at me. One moment, I may be being chased by the large black cat, its fangs dripping in Quill's blood. The next moment, Ruby would be leaning over me, whispering words into my face that made no face. Each puff of breath that touched my face caused me to writhe in pain.

Arizona was always on the sidelines.

Once, my nightmare started off as a dream. I was in my room, in District 7. I was pretty sure that I had won the game, in whatever impossible odds, but I had won. I'd jumped from my bed, rushing out the door and down the hall. My father had been sitting on the couch, hunched over, the TV in front of him blaring at him.

And beside him... my mother.

She didn't look like what I remembered her, but something made me knew that she was my mother. I'd cried their names, but they'd just stayed hunched over, watching the TV. I'd grabbed my dad's shoulder, but he'd just whacked it away, before letting his head fall into his hands, letting out an awful keening sound.

I'd started to cry around here.

I'd run around in front of them, screaming 'Mommy! Daddy!', but when they had looked up, it hadn't been them... it had been me and Quill.

I'd just stared at the older versions of ourselves. Some impulse had forced me to turn around and look at the screen. On it, the Hunger Games were playing. They were trained on two people right now. Slowly, slowly, I recognized them as myself and Quill. I was lying in my own blood... and he was crying my name.

I screamed for what felt like hours.

At one point, I'd come to, or at least I thought I had. When I opened my eyes, everything was much to hot and I was in some sort of shelter. I'd groaned, blinking my eyes. Pain burned in my shoulder. Then, suddenly, Quill was leaning over me. his amazingly cool hands touching my cheeks.

His words echoed in my head, "Tivra! Tivra! Don't leave me again! Stay alive! Keep breathing! If not for me, for your dad!"

I wonder why he said my dad...

Then I was falling back into the nightmares...

I was in a forest, a never ending, dark forest. There was an axe in my hand, I could tell by the hilt, but every time I looked down, there was nothing there but my own palm. My own empty, cold palm.

Slowly, I moved forward, my eyes drooping in fatigue. My legs began to drag, something they didn't do very often. I could hear an odd buzzing in my ears. No, not just my ears, it was all around me, everywhere. I looked around, suddenly very much aware of the nests of trackerjackers all around me.

Well, that was a bit of a dilemma...

I froze, not daring to move a muscle in horror that they might attack. After so many nightmares, so much horror, that last thing I needed to was trackerjacker sting. As I watched the many nests though, they all began to crack open. I prepared myself to run, to find a source of water, but instead of tracker jackers roaring out towards me... blood began pouring at at them.

It formed a tidal wave of the red copper. My screams echoed through the forest as it bore down one me, sweeping me off my feet and pulling me under the current. I choked on coppery tasting blood. I gasped, splashing my arms in horror, trying to keep above the water, trying not to drown.

The cat suddenly swept by me, coughing up blood and paddling its paws. I stared in horror as it was pulled under, sucked into a huge whirlpool that I was being pulled towards. I screamed as it began to pull at my legs.

Arizona was suddenly there, standing on the blood but not being swept away. She watched me with dark, cold eyes, a spear in hand. The weapon sent me into hysterics and I began to writhe, the liquid becoming more and more solid, until finally I couldn't move, couldn't only watch as Arizona advanced, spear in hand, my screams having no effect.

The dream changed...

I was back at the opening ceremony, riding around the capitol, the thousands of people screaming my name. I waved, sent out kisses and laughed, leaning against Quill willingly. I couldn't see what was wrong with this dream. It was just earning me more sponsors! Gregor would be so proud...

The crowd started screaming at the water started to fall from my crown, washing over my shoulders but not getting my wet. I threw my head back, laughing, catching a flower in my hand and turning to give it to Quills and that when I started screaming.

The crowds screams were not in pleasure anymore. Instead, horror was thick on their voices, as was mine. The vines that had been falling from his crown were whipping around his head, slowly suffocating him to death. I started scrabbling at them with my finger nails, but that only made blood gush from the vines.

Suddenly, the water falling around my shoulders was all to real, soaking me. It began to fall heavily, like a waterfall, around my face. I tried to take in a deep breath, but only managed to swallow down a mouthful of water. I gagged, my lungs screaming for air as spear after spear entered my body, thrown by the crowd. The people that had only loved me a few moments ago.

And again...

I was on a boat, Quill fishing with a net beside me. We already had a very large load and would soon be able to return for the day. I was relieved, I was tired and just wanted to sleep, to rest. Quill dragged in another batch, letting it collapse into the containers of water, the fish twitching from exposure to air.

I didn't notice it at first, even though Quill was screaming his head off. The net was slowly twisting around his legs, working its way up. By the time I noticed, he was up to his neck, the net twisted so tight you could even see his body. I lunged towards him as he was dragged into the water, but only managed on throwing myself into the water.

I was able to swim and began to make my way to the boat, but suddenly the net was around my ankle, twisting upwards and dragging me downwards. My scream was muffled by the water running down my throat. I gagged, everything going dark all to fast.

It never stopped...

I was at a dance, obviously in the capitol. Everything was very bright, everyone squealing and running about. I was lost though, having lost my grip on Quill and Gregor. I wondered around, trying to find my way around, but any time I spotted them and began to move towards them a line of a peacekeepers would appear, keeping me from them.

At one point, I fought again them, but they wouldn't budge. They were like a stone wall. I turned and ran the other way, but they were there as well. For some reason, I began to stuff my mouth with the capitol food, taking bites of everything until I couldn't hold anything else. Then my rabbit was one the table, bland, dead eyes staring at me and I vomited all over the floor.

Some impulse made me reach out and grab it, taking a large bite of the raw, rotten meat. I couldn't stop, couldn't stop, couldn't stop... couldn't... stop....

The worst one saved itself for a long time...

I was just standing there, Quill holding onto my face. Yet when he stared at me, he wasn't seeing me, he wasn't seeing anything. He wasn't doing anything. He was bland, his eyes glazed over, a spear stuck through his stomach and right into mind, yet I couldn't die I didn't even see the pain, there was just dead Quill, staring at me.

I began to scream, the sound endless, my throat never becoming raw. Spear after spear was sent through our bodies. Each time Quill's coming to life for a moment, beginning to say something before falling dead again, right where we started again.

I came to screaming once, only have Quill running over in panic, leaning over me, before I was out again.

I was at the reaping, in my red dress and red lipstick. They had just called my name, but I couldn't move, my feet were actually welded to the stone. Anytime the someone tried to touch my to get me to move up, they crumpled to dust. I found my dad trying to move me and all the while I was screaming at him not to, but then he was nothing more then just a pile of dust at my feet.

Slowly, I started to turn to dust, the little particles trailing off of me slowly, piling around my feet. My fingers started to disseappear and my screamed radiated through the air, but it didn't last long as the sand began to fill my mouth, making breathing impossible and speaking even harder. I slowly fell to my knee's, my innards falling to pieces in front of me.

President Snow stood on the stage the whole time, his laugh washing over us all and sending chills down my spine.

It wasn't long until I could hear either, though, my ears falling to pieces and finally, my eyes began to cave in on themselves, rolling backwards into my head before falling inside of my skull, leaving two black pits...

There was one point where there was nothing, just bliss, for many hours and all the pain went away.

Then it hit me all to soon again, as if someone had pounded the one button in, not letting me be at piece.

There was one nightmare, where I was in a capitol building, a capitol maze is more like, where I walked, turned corners and opened doors, but was unable to find a way out. The whole time, Viclin shadowed me, whispering about how I could have saved him. I ended up curling in a corner, banging my head against a wall over and over again, my screams ended only when my throat became to raw.

And still it didn't end.

It just went on and on. At some point, I got back up and started walking again, my feet carrying me to the unknown, into darkness, but I still stumbled along, some force dragging me down this corner and I had no idea what it was.

Finally though, I came back to life.


	12. Chapter 11

At first, it was to bright to see. I was blinded by the sunlight pouring onto my face. Squeezing my eyes closed, I waited for the nightmare to take hold. What would happen this time? Would I die, or would someone else, someone I cared about. I waited for screams, I waited for death and pain, but it never came.

Still, it took a long time for me to find the courage to open my eyes again. I had begun to expect that this was one of those nightmares where you don't hear anything, but instead the one where there was only visions. Slowly, the sun shifted, until finally my eyelids were not stained orange. Slowly, so slowly, my eyelids opened.

I was in a tree, that's the first thing I was aware of. It was large and a complete circle, the bark rough to my touch as I reached out and brushed my hands against it. I was lying on my back and every time I shifted, pain would flash through my shoulder. I was very much aware that I was only in my bra and my shirt was crumpled to one side.

After a moment, I looked at my shoulder, almost vomiting as I took in the gruesome, angry red color. The wound was roughly stitched, a dried poultice around the edges. I started to reach over to touch it, then though better of it and let my hand fall across my bare stomach.

I began to struggle into a sitting position, ignoring the tugging sensation at my shoulder and the pain that flashed across it. I finally managed to get my self into a more comfortable position. All our supplies were in one corner of the tree, along with a bag I don't remember having had before, but I guessed that it belong to the boy who had speared me.

Right, I'd been speared.

I'd come so close to death, but somehow I'd managed to stay alive, to live through the nightmares and fever. I doubted it had been Quill who had stitched my shoulder back together, so who had?

I couldn't help hoping that I found out soon.

Suddenly I couldn't take almost being half naked, so I reached over and gripped my shirt, pulling it into my lap. I had to be careful each time to not pull my stitches. I started to smooth out my shirt when a sudden rustle stopped me in my tracks. My hands froze, my breath hitching.

In a minute, I calculated how fast I could lunge towards the axe sitting on the dirt in front of me, but already knew it wouldn't be fast enough. The person's, or things, weapons would be on me before I even got halfway there. Instead, I made myself immobile, holding my breath and praying that they'd move on.

A hand suddenly came into view and I tensed, ready to use every bit of self defense that I owned to fight them off. Injured or not, I was at least going to die trying.

It turned out that wasn't necessary, because a sudden white blond head of hair appeared, followed by a lean, slightly muscular body that I'd know anywhere's. I didn't dare move, though. Some instinct was keeping my body rigid. Quill crawled over to the pile of materials, letting a handful of edible plants tickle onto a smooth, cleared out patch onto the ground.

It wasn't until my foot twitched that he even looked at me.

For a long moment we just stared at each other. He could easily see the feral tension in my muscles, the danger he was in from my emotions, but he didn't move, didn't make any movement to make a run to the woods.

Instead, he let out a choked gargle, like we was a trying to form words but was unable to. I was just opening my mouth to say something when he lunged towards me.

And kissed me.

? That all went through my mind very fast.

What I did do was knee him in the stomach, causing him to gasp, freeing me from his kiss for a second, which was enough time for me to hiss out, "Get off of me!" and scramble backwards, causing flaring, flaming pain to radiate through my whole shoulder.

Quill rocked back on his heels, eyes glazing over in pain, but I just lay there, panting, pressed against the wood, which grounded against my back painfully. A small trickle of warmth could be felt on my arm, so my wound had probably started bleeding again.

After a moment, Quill's gaze gained focus and his lips pressed together into a thin, white line. He ducked his head, a gruff, "Sorry," escaping his throat before he turned around and grabbed a water bottle, turning back to chuck it to me.

Bad idea. I fumbled with it and dropped it.

Quill muttered another apology before passing it back to me, this time more carefully. I took a sip, but found that we were almost out of water. There wasn't enough left to even get a decent mouthful.

I whispered in a voice hoarse from not being used for so long, "Have you found a new water source yet?"

He nodded, then shook his head, smirking, "I didn't, may I say. Arizona did,"

I give a small nod. The District 12 girl, the girl from my nightmares, had found a water source. I took note that the second water bottle was filled to the brim with water, even if it was a little bit muddy looking. I struggled into a better position, leaning my head back and looking at Quill, lips pressed tightly together as if that could take away the memory of what had just happened.

"How am I still alive?" I whisper and his head gives a small, involuntary jerk. I stare at him and after a moment, he sighs.

"We were lucky that Arizona was trailing us, or else you would be dead. The only thing I could do was slowly the bleeding. You're heart rate was already slowing. Arizona turned out to have a bunch of medical supplies in her bag that she very much knew how to use. He sewed you back up and applied medicine to stop infection... you're heart stopped twice, though," He grimaced and I pressed my lips tighter together. Who had performed CPR? I wondered.

"The Gamemakers haven't rushed us out yet?"

He shook his head, a small laugh bubbling up from his throat, "Nope. Every once and a while I'd feel tremors in the ground, like the ones back in the thicker woods, but here seems to be a safer area. I say safer because that giant cat walked by this tree twice in one day, but that was five days ago,"

My breath hitched, eyes widening, "How long have I been out?"

He shrugged, "Ten days,"

Ten days. Ten days where I had faced death, threw up a hand in defiance and almost died. My heart had stopped twice, yet somehow I was still here. I suddenly very much wanted my dad. I wanted his arms around me, protecting me from the big, bad world.

Instead I was stuck with Quill... and Arizona, who didn't provide me much comfort in my mind. She seemed like a back stabber type of girl.

Quill seemed to understand my distress and I'm almost sure that he would have opened his arms to me if it hadn't been for the moment before. In a way, I don't think it would have really bugged me that much if he had.

I turned away from him, hyperventilation closing in on my chest. I fought it back, pulling my shirt over my head while being careful not to rip the stitches anymore then they already are. I reach up with my good hand, running my hand through a tangle of greasy, short black hair, which has already grown out into a soft fluff.

After a moment of just sitting hunched over, I turned back to Quill, "Any deaths lately?"

He nodded, "Two, the girl from District 4 and the boy from District ten,"

I nodded, interlacing my fingers in my lap. The were dirty, my once almost white skin dark with dirt, "I wonder how many people still have partners,"

He shrugged, "I know that the girl from District 11 is paired with the girl from District 5 and their both still alive. Plus there's the boy from district 9 and 11... and of course there's us," He smirked at me, but a sudden wave of fatigue refrained from me glaring at him. I leaned my head back, heart pounding in my head.

Suddenly, someone else swooped in. I froze, not even breathing. Still, Quill didn't freak out, unless my hearing suddenly stopped working. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter for a second, before opening them up.

Arizona was kneeling on the ground, knee's bent as if she'd just launched herself into here. She was dressed in a pair of leather boots, plus the same jeans and t-shirt as me, along with a leather jacket. A bag hung from her side, heavy with supplies. She had a bow slung across one arm, which she must have obtained a little while ago, since she hadn't had it on her before. Her grey eyes stared at me steadily, looking so much different without the heavy red makeup from the interview. He black braid fell down her back, a fashion statement I could just guess she had grabbed from her mother.

She definitely resembled Katniss more then Peeta. After a moment, she shrugged, "You lived," before turning around and unslinging the bag from around her neck, setting the bow and arrows on the ground. She slipped her jacket off, setting it laid out on the ground. I stared in shock at the array of knifes built inside, made obviously for quick use.

My god, she was armed.

She pulled out two rabbits, both pierced cleanly through the eye and set them out. Quill instantly set to building a fire. For a moment I stared at him in shock, then I freaked.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you want to get us killed?" My voice was shrill and Quill jumped, dropping the kindle he'd gathered off the ground and a match.

Before I could continue, Arizona spoke up in a calm voice, "The wood doesn't smoke,"

I glared at her, "All wood smokes,"

She shrugged, "Not this stuff,"

I spun around to face Quill, my eyes obviously communicating that this girl was crazy. I ignored the wave of dizziness, a sign that I should probably slow down. He just let a small smile play with his mouth, "Sorry, it's true,"

My eyes narrowed and I almost started to protest again, then thought better of it and turned away, leaning heavily against the wall.

It wasn't long until the smell of cooking meat was wafting through the air and my mouth began to water. I hadn't realized how hungry I was, but now that I thought about it, I was shockingly skinny. When I'd had my shirt off, I'd been able to count every ribs and I don't recall my face feeling so gaunt.

It wasn't long until I turned towards the fire, forcing my eyes open. Every muscle in my body felt horribly tired. Arizona was serving out the mean, giving Quill two legs, as she did with me. The food in front of me was delicious, dripping with fat that dribbled down my chin as I took the first bite. I'd been living off crackers and other resources for so long, I'd almost forgotten the delicacy of a rabbit.

It wasn't soon until it was gone. The last few bites had only went down with brute force. My stomach seemed to have shrunk in size. I'd probably have been able to eat a whole rabbit when I'd first got here. Now a leg and a half was enough to make me full.

Quill was gouging himself, though, doing much better then I had. Arizona was taking her time and after a leg she wrapped the rest up, tucking it securely into the bag, before pulling out a bunch of bottles and a small wooden bowel that was obviously hand made.

Turning away from me, she began to mix things until she came up with a thick, fresh smelling green goop, turning towards me with the bowl carefully set in her hands, "Remove you're shirt, please,"

I hesitated at first, but one look from Arizona got me undressing. She carefully applied the poultice, clicking her tongue unhappily when she saw the fresh blood, before flashing a glare in Quill's direction, who turned in the opposite direction. She rubbed the mixture in deep, before taking out a bandage and wrapping it around my arm, "Sadly, now that you're awake, we can't keep you half naked all the time, so I'll have to wrap it up. Waste of good bandaged, may I just say,"

I snorted, before pulling my shirt on, pulling my knee's up to my chest and setting my knee's on them. I felt exhausted and every time that I looked at Quill or Arizona to long, I began to remember the nightmares, especially the one with Quill dead against me. It was the reason that I didn't lie down right there and go to sleep. I don't think I could take the nightmares that might come.

The day went by slowly. Arizona slipped back out and Quill eventually left to, leaving me to my own defense's, but I knew that he wasn't far away. I could hear him walking around just out of the opening of the hollow tree. He wouldn't have been able to go to far anyway. The virtual rope tying us together was unyielding.

Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed out. Grabbing my axe and lifting it up, noticing that my once strong arms weren't as fit as they used to be, I crawled out, which wasn't as easy as they made it look. The hole was covered by grass and moss, plus vines. Completely hidden from view outside.

I managed to get out side and stood up, taking in the thin tree's and scrubby bushes all around. I could hear a stream trickling near by, the water source. Quill was leaning against a tree, but when a twig snapped beneath my foot he spun around, hand flying to a knife at his hilt.

I raised my eyebrow at him and he relaxed, before tensing with anger, "You shouldn't be out here! It's not safe in you're condition!"

I snorted, rolling my eyes, "I'm in just as much danger in the tree trunk as I am standing out here. As long as you're near, someone can always find me,"

His hands clenched, before he sighed in defeat, "Still, its not good for you're health,"

I shrugged again, looking around slowly. Some mockingjays fluttered through the tree's, everything seemed to peaceful.

After a moment, I walked over to the side of Quill, sliding down the tree and onto the ground. After a moment, he followed me, leaning his head back against the trunk. We stared up into the leaves for a few moments. I took in the petals mixed through every tree, before pointing them out to Quill. He smirked.

"Never touch those. Turns out there poisonous. Arizona told me,"

I nodded after a moment, the once sweet sight suddenly not so sweet. I averted my eyes, staring into the shadows of the tree's. Despite the relaxed atmosphere, I felt like there was something dark about these woods.

The longer I sat there, the more things I began to notice, like the small, subtle pile of bones almost hidden in the bushes, to neat to have been made by a human and the webs lacing some trees. One tree was swarming with spiders. You could barely see the trunk.

Suddenly, Quill's hand was on my chin, pulling my face to look around at hims. He didn't seem to be making an move to kiss me, which relieved me, since I was positive on not falling for him, but I could already see that we were entering dangerous grounds as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Tivra... I know you don't seem to like me very much. I would like me very much either, but still, that doesn't change how I'm starting to feel. That kiss... in the trunk... it was more then just an impulse, I think..." Yet I had drowned him out right around here.

No, it was not because I was shallow or mean, it was because of the huge tarantula that had just taken a silent step out of the bushes.

It was huge, at least the same size as the huge cat. It's body was covered in prickly, hairy fur and its eight legs were so long that it had a hard time maneuvering through the trees. Its eyes were a scary shade of red eyes that are positively trained on me and Quill. Two pincers are at its mouth, dripping a deadly looking poison.

A sudden part of Quill's interview rushes back to me, a part I hadn't even known I'd listened to...

Caeser leaned forward in his seat, "So, I'm guessing you've trained you're whole life to be a career, but tell me, do you have a fear?"

Quill smirked, tapping his chin before becoming deadly serious, "I must admit that I have a phobia of spiders. Have since I was little. I can tolerate them, but sometimes I still get the chills when I see one,"

Caeser laughed, "I must agree..."

The memory didn't go any farther then that.

Quill obviously had seen to spark of fear in my eyes and determined that it wasn't about what he was saying. He began to turn to look behind him and I knew instantly that I couldn't let him see what was behind us. It would only cause panic. I needed to distract him, but how?

A million idea's flashed through my mind at once. Slap him, punch him, just plain out tell him to stop moving, but only one would work, and I knew it. So I grabbed his face, stopping him mid turn and brought my lips down on his, hard, my eyes never leaving the enemy even as I shifted my axe in my hand, preparing for the charge.


	13. Chapter 12

The large tarantula, which was the only word that she could think to describe it with, the manouvering through the tree's, giving her a few moments to prepare. Sadly, Quill was making it a little bit hard, since he was kissing me, hard. This was nothing like the other times. No, I almost let myself succumb to the kiss, before snapping out of it just as the spider freed itself.

I leaped to my feet at the same time that the spider charged forward. Quill fell backwards in surprise, but I was already leaping over his head, ignoring the flaring pain in my shoulder. The spider rose up before me, poison spattering my face, but I was very careful to keep my mouth closed.

I took my axe in both hands, swinging it hard straight into the side of the huge thing. It writhed beneath the blow and one clawed like leg ripped along my shirt, leaving a shallow gash from my wrist to my elbow. I grimaced, wrenching the ax free.

It was dripping with black blood and the whole front of my shirt was stained with the stuff now. The spider, charged, running me backwards. I backpedaled, smashing the ax into one of its legs and watching as the leg went flying. For a second, the extra weight sent the spider off balance, giving me a moment to compose myself.

I didn't get much of a moment, though. The spider was charging again. I couldn't move backwards fast enough and ended up falling down. Its pincers flashed in my face and I pressed the back of my skill flat against the ground. I let the axe slash deep into its shoulder and it writhed upwards.

My arm was wet with blood and one side of my shirt was mixed with red and black blood. I was guessing that the stitches were coming undone. Still, bleeding to death from an old fatal wound wasn't my worst problem right now.

I caught a glimpse of Quill, who was backing up quickly on his feet and hands, terror whole on his face. I stared at him for a second, before shaking my head. So much for brave. I felt guilty about that thought later. I'd panicked when the panther had showed up.

Suddenly, a flash of something small caught my eyes. Arizona was falling from a tree, two very large knifes glinting in her petite hands. She landed on the back of the spider, causing it's legs to collapse for a second. I gasped as the breath was forcefully removed from my lungs.

The spider suddenly reared back, giving me time to scramble out from under it and see that Arizona had embedded both her knife's deep into its skull, but hadn't managed to pierced the brain. I doubted any of her knifes could get through that skull. So that left it up to me and my axe, which I'd somehow managed to hold onto.

Suddenly, Arizona fell off of the spider, rolling into the grass. The spider twisted, faster than I would have thought possible and buried its pincers deep in Arizona's stomach.

"NO!" My scream echoed through the tree's, but I doubted anyone would come near us with all the sounds going on. Arizona's body rose with the spider, but the cannon had not gone off, so she was obviously still alive.

Pure adrenaline rushed through my veins. My fingers loosened slightly on the axe and I lifted it above my shoulder, before my bad shoulder twisted in pain and the axe slipped through my fingers, clattering to the ground. My chance was gone.

The spider charged me, Arizona sliding off of the pincers with a sickening squealing sound. She landed on the ground in a pile, but the spider had forgotten about her. I was its prey now.

It charged me and I backed up fast, but I ran into a tree. The same tree that was covered in spiders. I screeched, leaping away from it and shaking the spiders away, but not before the large one rained down on me.

The impact threw me to the ground, but somehow his pincers hadn't pierced my skin. For a moment I started to scramble backwards, but it was impossible. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for death.

A smack and a crunch was the only sound that came.

The spider fell half on top of me, but I managed to get out from under it within seconds, before the weight could crush my legs. In its head was my axe, embedded deep in the skull, much deeper then Arizona's two knifes. Standing over it was Quill, who was gasping for breath.

I stared at him for a moment, but then leaped up, racing past him. Arizona lay on the ground, chest rising and falling, her skin exactly the same shade of green as the grass around her. I fell down beside her, pulling her shirt away from the wound, before turning and vomiting up the rabbit that we had seemed to have eaten hours ago, even though it had only been minutes.

The wounds were just two holes punched in her stomach, but pus and blood was pouring out of them. It was surprising that she was still alive. I touched her face, finding that she was freezing, seriously feeling like ice or snow to bare fingers. There was something dribbling from in between her lips that I couldn't name... and didn't really want to.

Quill suddenly fell down beside me, Arizona's medical kit in his hands. He flung it open, taking out and alcohol swab and beginning to wipe at the wound.

I stared at him for a moment, but he just shrugged, "I'm just doing what she did to you,"

We managed to clean out the wound a little and I was pretty sure that wound wasn't deep enough to have punctured any organs. It was the poison that was the real bad thing. Arizona's heart beat was almost nonexistent. It was steady, but so quiet I panicked at one point, thinking she was death. Quill had been able to hear it though.

Quill did a rough job of stitching up the two wounds, stopping the blood flow, but we could do anything more than that. After a while, we managed to maneuver her into the makeshift den of ours, where we set her down where I'd been before. Which was a bed of moss.

Quill stood there for a moment, just staring at the small body before him, before sighing, "I think she may have fallen into a coma,"

I shuddered. Every once and a while, that would happen around our District and they almost never came back out of it.

I turned to our supplies, digging out the sleeping bag and placing it over her small, cold body gently, before wiping the hair back from her eyes. I escape death, she fall's into its clutches. It just didn't seem fair.

Quill crawled out the opening and after a moment I followed. In the clearing, the spider lay collapsed on the ground, its head oozing blood and gore around the axe. I stared at it for a moment, before my eyes flickered to Quill as he made his way towards the spider. He grabbed my axe handle, wrenching it out before chucking it to the ground. He yanks the two knifes out and they clatter down beside the spider.

I slowly approach, before reaching down and picking up the axe, wiping it along the ground. Before me, this axe had only ever cut into wood and maybe the occasional finger. It made me kind of depressed because it only showed once again how much I'd changed.

Sudden tears prick my eyes, red hot but I force them back, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, before turning back around and dragging my feet back to the tree. I crawl in, sliding my way to the far end and dropping the axe beside me, pulling my knee's up to my chest and placing my chin on my knee's, staring at Arizona's face.

Quill enters again, dropping the two knifes beside the fire pit, before taking the medical kit and pulling out a new needle and thread and quickly cleaning it.

I'd almost forgotten about my ripped stitches on my arm. My arm just needed a rough bandage, but Quill had to do a rough new stitch up on my arm, which had me clutching his nonbusy arm shoulder, causing him to wince and giving him crescent shaped marks of blood when he was done.

Oops.

It wasn't as good as Arizona's neat stitches and most of the poultice had washed away with the blood, but it had at least stopped the bleeding again. I began to pull my shirt back on, but though better of it when I made out the mess of blood all over the front. You would not be getting me into this shirt until it was washed.

"Where's the river I heard? I need to wash this shirt," I said, looking at Quill.

Quill took one look at my shirt and went a little green in the face. He pulled off his jacket and chucked it to me, I had no idea what had happened to mine, before crawling out the opening. I pulled the jacket on and followed quickly.

Out in the clearing, Quill walked into the tree's and I quickly followed. They had formed a well made path in the last ten days. Finally, the path opened out into a small clearing, a clear, small, shallow river bubbling along in the middle. The water sparkled bright, hurting the eyes when you looked at for to long. Flowers waved in the light breeze on either side, yet there was no other smell besides the normal, woodsy scent, like mold.

Quill turned and walked to a tree, sitting down against much as he had been before the attack. I moved forward, placing the shirt in the water and weighing it down with rocks, before scrubbing at it with my thumbs. The water was soon dark with the blood, flowing away down the screams. Soon there was only the stains, dark against the once white shirt, which I began to scratch at with my nails.

I was so intent on cleaning my shirt off until the memories of today were gone that I didn't see the parachute falling. Neither did Quill and the small 'clank' it made as it hit the ground beside me made me leap to the left, head snapping around and hands already ready to fight. Then I took in the small basket.

Inside two bread roles were still steaming. They were both obviously from my District, with the small grains and a dark brown colour. A warm sent rose to my nose, smelling just like home.

Quill suddenly was beside me, looking down into the basket curiously, before raising his eyebrows as he took in the two roles, "Wonder what District these are from,"

"There from mine," I said, pulling out one role and cradling it in my hands, the warmth spreading up my arms. I made it very clear that Quill was to take the other one and after a moments hesitation he did, balancing it carefully in one palm.

I glanced at my shirt, making sure that the stones weren't going to give way from the current, before turning away from the water and digging my teeth into the warm bread. It would have been better with butter, or maybe cheese, but still, the taste of home was enough to make me happy.

It was gone all to soon, with only the memory of the grainy taste on my tongue. Quill had finished his as well and I couldn't help believing that my District had sent me two pieces because of Quill having saved my life from the spider.

Quill sat down, crossing his legs, before looking at me, smirking, "You know, its starting to bother me that Gregor is only sending you stuff! Come on, Gregor!" He called to the sky.

I snorted, shoving his shoulder as I yanked my shirt from the water, wringing it out, "Those bread roles were for both of us,"

Quill shrugged, shoving himself to his feet, "Are you ready to go? I don't like standing out here for this long,"

After a moment, I nodded, standing up. Quill strode across the clearing and I jogged after him, suddenly wary of the clearing around us. If there was giant spiders, what else could there be?

As we entered our clearing again, I carefully avoided looking at the gored spider. We would have to move the thing or leave the area sooner or later. It would only be a matter of time before the smell of fresh, dead meat brought on more predators.

Looking up into the sky, I suddenly noticed a large mountain rising up above the tree tops. In was in the direction opposite of the ocean, or so I thought it was. I squinted my eyes at it, suddenly sure that I wanted to head in that direction.

After a moment, I pointed in the direction of the mountains. Quill followed my gaze, "I want to head in that direction... now,"

Quill gave a small nod, but his eyes doubted my choice when he looked at me, "What about Arizona? We can't just leave her,"

I shrugged, "I'll carry her. I doubt she even way over one hundred. I've carried heavier weights then her,"

Quill shook his head, "You're shoulder,"

I rolled my eyes, "My shoulder has nothing to do with it. We're not at home now, where we can just sit around and wait for it to heal. Sooner of later that huge spiders going to bring something in, something that will probably be looking for a quick meal,"

Quill was still shaking his head, "We'll just go inside the tree,"

I sighed, turning my glare on him, "You really think that it won't be able to knock down a tree if its determined? That tree's half rotten! We're lucky it hasn't collapsed on top of us yet!"

Quill just looked at me, before shrugging, "Okay,"

I opened my mouth to argue farther, then snapped it shut again, raising my eyebrows at him, "Okay?"

He nodded, "I can see you're point. It may put us in danger with other Tributes, but it will get us out of danger of this zone,"

After a moment, I nodded, a curt little movement of my head, "Good, lets get ready,"

I pushed him aside, sliding in the opening and moving to our supplies. I started to stuff things into the bag. It took a while, but after a while I had managed to get all our stuff into the bag, including my shirt wrapped in a piece of plastic. I'd hang it up later.

I turned, passing the bag to Quill, who was leaning in the opening. He took it in his hands, watching as I moved over to Arizona and started to maneuver her out.

Finally, outside, I hoisted her up onto my shoulders, wrapping her limp arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I'd been right about her weighing next to nothing. I could pick her up like a doll. Quill waiting as we arranged ourselves, before turning and moving in the directions of the mountain.

I really hoped I was right about this.


	14. Chapter 13

[Sorry, REALLY short chapter :P]

A girl can only go so long before the effects of exhaustion start to take hold. Having just faced a very long stage of fever and sickness, plus the fact that it was getting dark, it wasn't long until Arizona seemed to have doubled in weight and my legs were shuddering, but I forced myself to keep noticing, hoping that Quill wouldn't notice.

I should have known that he was more observant then that, though. Still, when his voice broke the silence, it made me cringe, "We should stop, its getting dark,"

That was true. The sky was blossoming with spikes of red, orange and purple, which was dazzling looking. Still, I would have kept walking if it hadn't been for the my complete exhaustion. I slowly pulled to a stop, looking around. The tree's had begun to thicken again, but not enough so we could both sleep in the tree's though. We'd be on the ground tonight.

We moved on for a little bit longer until we came upon a small, open spaced clearing. I let Arizona slide to the ground, before setting her into a comfortable position and pulling out a sleeping bag, wrapping it around her still freezing body. When I lifted her eyelid, her pupil was racing about.

I hoped her nightmares weren't as bad as mine had been.

Quill was working away at a fire, brow crinkled in focus. I could just guess how much harder it would be to start a fire when you didn't have smoke to signal that it was working, but finally a tiny flame flickered up, licking at the tinder. Quill quickly began to feed it with some wood that had been in the pack. I'd barely even noticed packing it.

Once we got the fire going, we continued to warm up the left over rabbit that Arizona had caught. It wasn't as tasty as it had been when it was fresh, but it put something in my stomach. I was pretty sure that it would have come back up if it wasn't for my will to not vomit.

After the last of the rabbit was gone, I opened my mouth to speak, "I'll take firs-"

Quill cut me off with one look, "Don't even think about it. You're exhausted. I'll wake you when I can't keep my eyes open," He reached over and closed his hand over the sleeping bag, chucking it towards me. I caught it, glaring at him before unrolling the fabric and sliding my freezing body into it.

I had barely closed my eyes when the cannon fired.

I was up and out of the sleeping bag in a second, axe in hand, poised for an attack. The sound was already fading away now and suddenly realization hit me. Someone was dead.

I was at Arizona's side in a second, hand scrambling around the base of her neck, looking for a pulse. Quill was checking her wrist, but there was nothing, only silence. A silence that seemed to darken my soul.

"No," I whispered, my eyes showing shock. I checked for her pulse again, then again. There was nothing, nothing. Quill's hands were suddenly on my shoulders, making me jump. He pulled me away from the body. A sudden warning call informed me of the hovercraft even before I saw it, a dark shadow in the sky. A claw lowered down, grasping around her body and slowly lifting her up, into the dark, gaping hole.

Then it was gone. I could feel tears pricking at the edge of my vision, but I forced them back. This was a girl I'd barely known, but still, I felt horrible about letting her die. I should have done something more.

I really hoped District 12 wasn't to mad at me.

Quill managed to coax me back into the sleeping bag, where I lay, my head whirling in the shock of everything. I was positive that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. Not now, not ever.

I surprised myself when darkness instantly began to blanket my mind. I fought it for a second, feeling bad about being able to let unconsciousness fall over me so easily, but was long until I was dragged under and everything blacked out.

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I woke to darkness. A half moon rose high in the sky and I guessed that it was almost midnight. I was still exhausted, my body was clearly stating that, but it hadn't been me being well rested that had woken me. It was the crashing of someone making their way through tree's, obviously trying to be quiet and failing completely.

Quill was just starting to come and wake me, but when he took me my all to wary eyes, he stopped, nodding at me. His eyes showed a message, Started packing the stuff up.

I maneuvered my way out of the sleeping bag quietly, rolling it up roughly and shoving it into the our pack, which followed with the rest of the supplies. We would have to stop later to rearrange it so we didn't have things poking into our backs, but for now this would do.

I slipped it onto my bag, grabbing my axe in both hands and crawling on my knee's over to Quill. He nodded in the direction of a bush. I quickly scrambled over there, lying on my stomach behind it. Quill joined me in a second, having slipped over to the fire and messed it up. We couldn't leave evidence that we had been here.

It wasn't long until two girls burst into the clearing we'd been occupying only a few moments ago. One was obviously the girl from District 11, while the other was from District 5. They were partners, the virtual blue rope around their ankles marking them as that.

The girl from District 5 was tall and looked to be about sixteen. Her hair was straight as a needle and a blond, nothing compared to Quill's white blond, though. Her skin was pale white and she was thin.

The girl from District 11 looked to be about fifteen, standing around my height and built strongly, with wide shoulders and strong arms. Her hair was black, though not like mine. I had a feeling it had been dyed somehow. Her skin was dark brown and her eyes were a shocking shade of green.

They glanced around and the girl from District 11 turned to face the girl from District 5,"I say we camp out here," Dang it.

The District 5 girl nodded, looking down in submission. It was obvious who was the leader and it wasn't the one from the high district, "Okay, Kiki," I almost snorted at the sound of the name, but managed to suppress it.

They began to set up camp instantly. Kiki was set on watch duty. I scanned their supplies, taking in the large backpack that was pretty much bulging with goods. I instantly knew that I wanted to pack, but how I was supposed to get it I had no idea.

Once the girl from 11 snuggled into a blanket, Quill and I made our escape, backing silently into the shadows. After a while though, I let any thoughts of getting that bag go. It would probably mean their certain death and I don't think I could do that to them. It would just be to cold blooded.

Quill wouldn't let us stop moving until he felt sure that we were far enough away from the two female tributes for them to not catch up to us when we start moving again. When we did stop moving again, it was only because the darkness and shadows from the tree's were making it to dark for us to see anything. I had long since grabbed on to the back of Quill's shirt and just stumbled along with him.

We stopped in thick bush and Quill slid to the ground, pulling me with him. I collapsed backwards, chucking our backpack to the side and letting my arms fall to the sides. We lay that for a while, the freezing air burning our lungs. Quill had fallen forward, letting his forehead rest in his hands.

For a moment I stared at his hair, which was bright in the darkness, before closing my eyes. I didn't get much peace though, because Quill spoke up.

"So... about that kiss,"

My breath hitched. It was a subject I'd been unconsciously avoiding, for my own good.

He continued and I watched as the white head of hair rose a little, probably looking for me in the darkness now. Unlike him, I'd blend right in except maybe for my skin, which was very pale, "I'm going to take a guess and say that it wasn't because you're into me,"

I sighed, head lolling back as I stared at the sky, "I'm not looking for love, Quill. From all I know, you could die tomorrow, or even tonight,"

"Only more reason to fall for me,"

I started to shake my head, but jumped when his fingers suddenly gently gripped my chin, stopping my protest. I could feel his breath on my face, "Give me a chance, Tivra. I'm not as shallow as a lot of people think,"

My fingers curled into fists, but any thoughts of knocking him unconscious were wiped away when his lips brushed mine.

He was hesitant, giving me a choice to either pull away or not. I would probably regret not pulling away when I had the chance. I blame it on shock.

Taking this as permission, he kissed me harder. I felt my heartbeat pick up and after another moments hesitation, I gave in. I kissed him back, hard. He responded by grabbing the sides of my face and my fingers tangled in his hair. His dirty, greasy, yet still shockingly white hair. I'd never realized how soft is hair was.

I don't know how long it went on, but I knew when to draw the line, distracted by kissing or not. I pressed one hand against his chest, pushing. For a second, he resisted, then pulled back, his lips separating from mine. His weight fell off of mine and I let my head fall back.

I had never felt more confused. My mind was literally whirling with thoughts. I'd never felt this way about anyone. Not back in District 7. Not with the many guys that I hung out with everyday, chopped wood with. No, this was a completely different feeling and I wasn't exactly sure if I liked it. I was breaking my promise to myself by accepting these feelings.

Quill seemed to own so many pieces of me now.

I closed my eyes shut, listening to his breathing, which went from fast, still excited from the moment, before slowly calming down. Finally, it was steady. Unlike mine, which was still racing. My head pounded with my heartbeat and my nails bit into the soft skin at my palms.

To many things had happened in one day. When Quill spoke again, it made me jump, "Give me you're answer when you feel that you can," Then he was silent.

I let him fall asleep, sitting up for the rest of the night, thinking about my feelings while watching out for any visitors that may cause us a threat. When the trumpets went off, showing Arizona's small yet determined face, I let a few tears leak out, before drying them carefully on Quill's jacket. That was all I was going to let out.

Time seemed to fly by, until finally the sun was beginning to rise and still I hadn't made up my mind. I sat there for a few minutes, wanting to prolong the moment before I had to wake up Quill.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again. I looked towards the horizon, taking in the sunrise. As I stared at it, I made up my mind.

I moved to Quill's side, shaking his shoulder lightly. He opened his eyes groggily, staring up at me and taking in the dawning sun, then he looked back at me and he obviously some my answer in my face, for he reached up and pulled his face to his.

When we pulled away, I only spoke one word, "Okay,"


	15. Chapter 14

We reached the mountains about halfway through the next day. Quill's personality towards me had changed tremendously to me, and it was beginning to bug me very much. Every crack, every rustle, had me behind him, his arms spread out in front of me protectively. Finally, I'd kicked him in the ankle and pushed him into a berry bush.

After that, he'd refrained from trying to protect me.

When we did reach the mountains, I become aware of what had been drawing me towards it. High above our heads was a second cornucopia, glinting in the sunlight. It was filled with goods and as far as I could tell, we were the first ones here.

"Is it worth it?" I murmured to him, as we both backed back up into the tree's.

He shrugged, "We'd probably find ourselves a good amount of food, but if someone else shows up, someone like Ruby... well, then we're going to have to fight,"

I nodded, lips pressed together into a thin line, "Still, there's two of us,"

After a moment, Quill nodded, glancing around before stepping forward. I followed just as silently and we quickly approached the mountain. Some type of path twisted up and around, all the way to the cornucopia. It was rough and we'd have to be careful not to slip, but it would be quicker then climbing all the way... and a whole lot safer.

Quill went first, carefully beginning to slide his way up, taking a careful step forward each time and testing any loose rocks. I followed after him, hands spread out across the rough rock wall to get as much traction as I possibly could.

It was slow and tedious going. Each step could send us over the edge, to certain death. If one fell, the other was going with them, because of the rope tying us together, It wasn't long until we were dizzyingly high and not even halfway to the cornucopia.

Sooner or later, I began to look up instead of looking down. It wasn't long until we only had a few more feet ahead of us. Relief flooded through me. Still, it didn't mean it was over. We would still have to make our way down the mountain.

Suddenly, a blood curdling scream breaks the semi-silence. I jump on the narrow ledge, before scrambling myself back and pressing my body against the rough rock behind me. My eyes scan the tree's below us, looking for the place the sound had came from.

I was beginning my search again when the two cannons go off.

I wince, but before I can even react, there's another two cannons. My eyes widen in horror. That's four dead in the span of a few seconds. Not even a minute. Yet... that leaves only four of us left.

The realization that I could win smacks me in the head hard. That me and Quill could both win. I'd never even thought about this. It didn't seem like something that could happen to us.

I'm suddenly aware of Quill's hand on my wrist, tugging me, trying to get me to move. I falter again for a second, before moving forward along with him. There's only a few more feet before us, then I'd be safe. It isn't long until finally me and Quill are precariously stepping up onto level ground.

I pause, trying to catch my breath and slow my pounding heart. We are stepping into a large, rocky ledge, big enough to give us a good amount of room to move around. That's not the thing that catches my attention the most. Its the cornucopia sitting in the very middle, shining in the sunlight. Now that I'm up close, I can see that its not made out of pure gold or anything like that. It doesn't gleam as brightly as the traditional cornucopia.

Quill's already moving forward, digging his hand into the piles of supplies, his eyes gleaming. This is one of those times when I feel a little bit of repulse to the boy I've donned my love for. I can still see the career in him at times.

After a moment of just looking at his face, I move forward, heading for the packs instead of the weapons. I drag out an extra large one, unclasped the clasps and flipping it open. Inside, there's another sleeping bag, along with two sandwiches. My stomach rumbles at the sight and I chuck one to Quill, before taking a bite. It may not be capitol food, but its still delicious after fried rabbit for the last long while.

After my sandwich is gone, I begin to dig through the bag again, coming up with a can of juice, which I quickly drain, ignoring Quill. There's another one in the backpack though and I give him that one. I'm not completely cruel.

I come up with a fresh, non stained shirt which I instantly slip on, the soft material like heaven against my skin. I come up with some fresh bandages, which I apply on my wound, which has begun to throb from effort, but I think I'll be okay. Still, I apply a cream that I find in a medical kit, causing an instant relief.

I'll be keeping that stuff on me.

Quill has armed himself with a number of spears. I never liked spears, found them to brutal. Plus it had been the weapon my brother had been murdered with. For a moment, I glared at them, until Quill begins to look up and I quickly avert my eyes.

I cloth myself in a new pair of boots, since the ones I have on are beginning to fall apart. I also put on a pair of leather gloves in my pant pockets, since they will help keep me warm when traveling at night. We gorge ourselves on the many selections of food, before sitting back. By the time we finish going through the piles of supplies, the sky is darkening and we both know that we won't have enough time to make it down the mountain again.

After a moment of silence, Quill speaks up, "We could sleep in the cornucopia. Push the supplies out to make it comfortable,"

I nod, moving forward and we begin to push things out, careful to not let them fall off the edge. It takes a while to get everything out, but there's not as much stuff as there is at the cornucopia in the beginning, so we're able to maneuver just fine.

It was dark by the time we finished and we both crawled inside. I lit a lamp that I had found in the pile of supplies, the artificial light reminding me of home. We sit there for a moment, our sleeping bags in our arms.

"I'll take first watch," say Quill. I glance up tiredly, before shaking my head.

"No can do. I haven't took a watch for way to long,"

Quill purse's his lips together and looks like he's about to argue, but one look from me obviously brings the pushing memory back to him and he agrees to it, crawling into his sleeping bag.

I sit in the opening of the cornucopia, staring out into the darkness as a chill begins to fall across me. I wrap my arms around myself, ignoring the painful pulling sensation from my stitches. I can only wait until they heal and I can take them out.

The night passe's slowly, where I listen for the tell tale sounds of someone coming up the slim pathway. We would be prepared if Ruby did, but we couldn't afford to try and leave, or else we could run into her on the way down and that could end up being the very end of all of us. When the moon reached the very center of the sky, I debated on waking up Quill, but he'd went through whole nights to give me a full nights rest, so unless he woke up on me, I'd let him have his rest.

We'd need it for tomorrow.

My fingers closed tightly around the handle of my axe. I could see the next day stretching before me. The game makers would surely try and push us together. With what, I couldn't even guess, but I'm sure that it couldn't be pretty.

It really is my fault for dozing off.

I woke to a knife to my throat, hot breath blowing into my face. I froze, fingers digging into the hard steel of the cornucopia. In the almost complete dark, I could just barely make out Ruby's face hovering above me. I instantly knew this was the end.

Just joking.

Instinct took over and Ruby had obviously been expecting me to beg for mercy. My hand flew up, knocking the knife a few inches away from my throat, giving me just enough time to swing my axe around and bury it deep in her thigh. She let out an ear piercing screech of pain, jerking Quill awake, before falling away from me, screeching profanities at me.

She swung her knife around and I felt a sharp point dig deep into my arm. Blood gushed out of the wound and I bit back my own screech, kicking out. My foot hit her chin, snapping her head back and sending her tumbling backwards, right out of the cornucopia.

I stumbled to my feet, axe poised in my hand as I got ready to stumble out and fight, but Quill suddenly shot past me. My yell was forgotten as he leaped on top of Ruby, knife glinting in his hand.

I lurched forward, not even thinking about trying to stop the flow of blood from the wound on my shoulder.

Quill raised the knife and slitted Ruby's throat. My eyes widened in horror, because he did it with such ease. Like it was an every day event for him. I think some of my love for him wasted away then, though there was still a lot running through me.

Ruby gurgled for a moment, eye wide in shock, before her eyes rolled back in her skull. The canon fired, pronouncing her dead.

I stared at both of them, opened mouth, trying to figure out how to breath again. Quill looked up, taking in my horrified expression and his own type of horror filled his face. He stumbled to his feet, moving towards me, but reflex made me retreat. I would hate myself later on for that.

His eyes fell to the ground, just as the trumpets began to play. I looked up, taking in the dead faces flashing across the sky. Five dead in the span of a day. I wonder how it had all happened.

Only one person was between me and my home.

Quill seemed to realize this at the same time as me. He looked up at me and a hollow expression was across his stony face. My heart ached to tell him it was all a mistake, that I still loved him, but he was already speaking, "Lets go. It will be quicker if we go to him. Not as painful as it would be if the Game Makers pushed us along,"

I hesitated, fighting back tears, doing all I could to not look at Ruby's dead body, before nodding and swallowing thickly.

Quill turned and began to make his way down the mountain.


	16. Chapter 15

The trip down the mountain seemed to go much faster then when we had been going up. Maybe because we hadn't been sure then, or maybe because we had been in less of a rush. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my fingers, tingling all the way to my fingers. Any rational thoughts of being careful were almost being overrun by the thoughts of getting home.

I didn't let that happen.

If I just went rushing in there, I would surely die, then any chance of me ever seeing my father again would be gone. Yet I very much knew that I wanted to get this over with.

I'm sure that the capitol was positively sitting on the edges of there seats, waiting to see who would be the first to die. Would her and Quill both die? Or would the other tribute boy die? I was positive that I could live with both of those outcomes, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to continue on with her life if Quill died. She'd either let the tribute kill her, or maybe kill him out of rage.

My fingers tightened around the handle of my axe, my eyes squinted into the trees. I wanted to sprint, I wanted to yell for his blood, but mostly I just had a terrible need to get home.

Of course, that also meant getting separated from Quill.

I flinched away from the thought, biting my lip until the copper taste of blood filled my mouth. I swallowed it away, lifting my gaze to stare at the back of Quill's white blond head. The tree's beside me seemed to ache with the horror of it all and slowly her thoughts became dark. She did her best to block everything out, stretching her senses in every direction.

Despite her concentration, she wasn't prepared for the figure that suddenly burst out of the underbrush in front of Quill. It was obviously the last tribute, the boy from District 9. Before she could figure out what was going on, there was a crack of a whip in the air and suddenly Quill was being yanked forward. He let out a gargled cry, falling to his knee's. I took in the blood seeping out from under the whip, before letting out a battle cry and leaping forward, axe raised high in the air.

The boy was faster though. He managed to slip the whip from around Quill's throat, who collapsed forward, hand around his neck. The whip cracked out, snapping across my cheek. I cried out in pain, falling back, hand flying to my cheek.

I managed to regain my balance, but suddenly the whip was twisting around my ankle and yanking me forward. I cried out again as I fell backwards, crashing to the ground. The boy was on top of me in an instant, his knife in his hand. I tried to heave him off, but he was to happy. He smirked down at me, before swinging the knife.

He didn't get a chance to kill me as Quill's foot flashed out, knocking the knife right from the boys hand. Quill tacked him to the land, his larger weight easily winning that battle. Quill had his knife out in a second, but the other boy was armored. Before Quill could use his knife, he swore loudly in pain and the boy shoved him back. Quill tried to keep his balance but his left leg went out from under him. I could see blood pouring from a stab wound in his thigh.

I took in a sharp breath, before setting my feet, gripping the handle with both hands and swinging it full power at the boys unsuspecting neck.

He ducked at the last moment, the blade skimming over his mess of long, black hair. I swore, preparing to another attack, but a sudden growl stopped me in my tracks.

It seemed to radiate all the way from the ground and up my bones. My teeth clenched together and I couldn't find the will to turn around and see the horrible monster behind me. I'd heard that growl before and it was all to familiar, all to feline. Finally, I managed to break into action, spinning hard on one heel. The black feline was stalking towards them and the boy behind me was letting out little whimpers.

Quill was backing up quickly, beckoning for me to follow, but I was waiting. I needed to time this perfectly.

The cat pounced, soaring through the air towards me, monstrous claws outstretched towards me, but I dove to the side. I rolled along the dirt and felt the rush of wind as it passed by me. Missing me by a hair length. The boy that had stood behind me let out a blood curdling scream, before the sound of crunching bones echoed through the forest.

I heard a horrible ripping sound, but I was already on my feet and backing up quickly. The cannon exploded through the air, echoing louder then the scream and breaking bones had. We had won.

Yet the moment that Claudius's voice didn't begin speaking I knew it wasn't over yet.

The capitol wanted my to kill the cat.

What other explanation would there be? They know what had happened when they last revoked the two people going back to there districts together. It had been a horrible failure.

I grabbed my axe with both hands as the feline turned towards me, blood absolutely running from its muzzle. The District 9 boys body still hung limply from his jaws, yet there was no head connected to the neck. Bile rose up in my throat, but I fought it back down. This wasn't the time for weakness.

The cat crouched, waving its over sized haunches in the air, before leaping towards me.

I lunged to the side again, turning as it landed with a boom like thunder. I raised my axe before it could turn and brought it down hard on its skull. The large axe crushed through the bone and blood sprayed across my clothing, into my mouth and eyes. I gasped, spewing it forward as the cat fell forward. Yet it wasn't dead yet. I raised my axe again, slamming it down with all my power.

It smashed straight through the skull this time and into the brain. Absolutely everything flew from the wound, into my face, all over my clothing. Guts, blood. I was blinded by the stuff and I was forced to swallow down a huge mouthful, but finally the large feline fell to the side, giving one last huge twist before it went limp.

I stood there, gasping, as another cannon fired. The feline had been its own kind of tribute.

I fell to my knee's, even as Claudius's voice rang across the forest. It echoed in my head for hours after, "Everyone, I present you with the winners of the 100th Hunger games!" Even as Quill managed to crawl over to me, turning me towards him and kissing my bloodied lips, I still couldn't accept it. How had I won?

Even when Quill managed to get me onto the ladder, I couldn't think straight. It wouldn't be for a long time that I found out my stomach had been gored open by a flailing claw, or that Quill almost died from his own wounds. No, then next few days flew by fast.

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It was the day where they went on stage and watched the Hunger Game's over again. I was dressed small blue dress that didn't go past my thighs, elegant, glittering blue fishnets falling down my legs and arms. My hair was dyed blue at the tips, since it still wasn't very long and my face was a mask of blues and greens, patterned with waves.

Quill was dressed in a plain black and white suit, with a tie that had wooden designs on it, plus his traditional twigs twisted through his hair. He looked absolutely stunning when she saw him and she instantly had leaped into his arms, any fights from before forgotten.

Watching the Hunger Game's over again was horrible for her. Especially seeing Arizona's death. It his her like a blow to the stomach and she had to fight to stay watching and not run from the stage. The ending was absolutely gruesome though and nothing could stop her from turning her face into Quill's shoulder.

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On the way to Quill's district on the train another problem ended up popping up. Being from different district's, they would be separated. I knew that there was one solution, but I barely gave it any though. My whole mind was on set on returning to my own district, not going back to Quills.

It didn't stop him from proposing though.

When he did ask the question, presenting me with a glorious diamond ring though, I had found herself just staring at it. I was only seventeen and after a moment, I shook my head.

His heart broken face had shattered my heart and I had taken his face gently in my hands, "I can't, I'm to young... and I need time in my own district,"

He had nodded and I had kissed him lightly, before leaving, his face was frozen in a mask of despair though.

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When I did reach her district, I was faced with a crowd. People were cheering for me, welcoming me home. I was instantly mobbed, people I didn't even know closely hugging me and crying. My lumber team had been some of the last, which I did appreciate. They were the people I kind of knew.

They had all hugged me, then I had been faced with her dad, who I had been surprised to see had been crying. His eyes had been red and puffy and tears had still been streaming down his face. He'd embraced me, joking on his words and he just buried his face in my shoulders, sobbing uncontrollably.

I had cried then, to.

He finally took me home, where I curled up in my bed and just sobbed. No amount of comfort could calm me down. Because I was home.

I was finally, truthfully, home.


End file.
